A lawsuit has been filed against TikTok and its parent firm ByteDance over the death of a 10-year-old girl who allegedly attempted a blackout challenge she saw on the app. Nylah Anderson was discovered unresponsive in her Pennsylvania bedroom on December 7th. She died five days after being in paediatric intensive care.
Tawainna, Nylah’s mother, stated her daughter tried the “blackout challenge.” People are encouraged to hold their breath or otherwise suffocate themselves until they pass out in this challenge. “The TikTok defendants’ algorithm judged that the deadly blackout challenge was well-tailored and likely to be of interest to 10-year-old Nylah Anderson, and she died as a result,” according to the complaint.
Furthermore, this challenge resulted in the deaths of several other children. Joshua Haileyesus, a 12-year-old Colorado kid, died in April 2021 after undertaking this task. In Italy, a girl died after undertaking the challenge. TikTok was also temporarily restricted for people who could not prove their age.
In March, it was revealed that a group of attorneys general were looking into TikTok’s app and “what TikTok knew about such damages” because of the possible harms it can cause to children. TikTok has yet to make a statement about the complaint.