Two families are taking legal action against TikTok, alleging that the popular social media platform played a role in the tragic deaths of their young daughters after they participated in a viral challenge.
The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Tuesday claims that the app’s algorithms are responsible for the deaths of the children.
Last year, two girls, aged eight and nine, lost their lives while attempting the ‘blackout challenge’, which had gained momentum on TikTok and resulted in the deaths of several other children.
The ‘blackout’ challenge involved participants choking themselves until they lost consciousness, as mentioned in the lawsuit filed on July 5th.
Seeking unspecified damages, the families have requested a jury trial in California.
They allege that TikTok’s algorithm deliberately and repeatedly promoted videos of the challenge to the children, encouraging them to engage in the fatal activity.
Matthew P Bergman, founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC), a legal resource for parents affected by social media misuse, stated, ‘TikTok must be held accountable for exposing these young girls to deadly content’.
He added, ‘TikTok has knowingly designed products that promote hazardous content, resulting in the deaths of its users’.
The complaint revealed that eight-year-old Lalani Erika Renee Walton from Texas passed away on July 15, 2021, as a direct result of attempting the challenge, according to law enforcement’s determination.
Lalani, who received a phone for her eighth birthday, was drawn to TikTok and hoped to attain fame by posting singing and dancing videos.
The complaint stated, ‘She believed that performing the Blackout Challenge on video would make her famous, which prompted her to try it’, emphasizing her lack of understanding of the danger involved at her age.
This is not the first lawsuit against TikTok related to the ‘blackout challenge’. In May, the mother of a 10-year-old girl who died after participating in the hazardous trend filed a wrongful death lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance.
The second victim mentioned in the lawsuit was nine-year-old Arriani Jaileen Arroyo, who, after receiving a phone at seven, became obsessed with posting dance videos and developed an addiction to TikTok.
Tragically, on February 26, 2021, Arroyo was discovered unresponsive by her five-year-old brother and could not be revived.
The complaint contends that TikTok was aware of the dangerous trend and its algorithm specifically targeted children, including the victims who lost their lives.
According to the lawsuit, TikTok’s algorithm promotes harmful content, allows minors to use the app, and fails to notify users or their guardians about the addictive nature of the platform.