Nylah Anderson was ten years old when, at the end of last year, she saw a challenge in TikTok that he decided to follow: it’s called the Blackout Challenge, and it consists of recording yourself holding your breath or strangling yourself until you pass out. This was done by Nylah, who self-asphyxiated on December 7 last. Her mother found her unconscious and took her to a hospital, but the girl died a few days later, on December 12.
Now Tawainna Andersonthe mother of Nylahpresented a lawsuit against ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, whom he blames for the girl’s death. According to the court filing, Tawainna Anderson believes that TikTok is responsible for being the vehicle that recommended that challenge to his daughter via the video suggestions in the application: the recommendation algorithm “determined that the lethal Blackout Challenge It would probably be of interest to 10-year-old Nylah Anderson.” says the text of the request.
TikTok responded by stating that “This disturbing ‘challenge’, which people seem to be learning about from sources other than TikTok, predates our platform and has never been a TikTok trend. We remain vigilant in our commitment to user safety and would immediately remove related content if found. Our deepest condolences to the family for their tragic loss.”, according to Gizmodo.
It is not the first complaint
The death of Nylah Andersonattributed to this challenge, is not the only one: the same thing happened in January last year in Italy with Antonela Sicomero (which led the government of that country to temporarily block TikTok), and in April 2021 in the United States, with Joshua Haileyesus.
Other similar viral challenges have ended with teenagers being hospitalized for overdoses after they saw a challenge claiming that an antihistamine could have hallucinogenic effects; another is the “coin challenge”, which consists of putting a coin between the legs of a plug so that they make a bridge, and which a 10-year-old girl tried to do on the recommendation of the digital assistant Alexa in the United States.
Other challenges have had less dramatic effects, but are equally alarming in the number of people who choose to do them without thinking of the consequences: a young woman lost several of her teeth daring others to take as many drinks as possible; Last April the call went viral flag game in Neuquenwhich consists of answering geography questions, with blows to the head as a penalty for an error.