TIKTOK – It’s becoming increasingly popular on TikTok, but it’s not new: It’s the Blackout Challenge – the impotence game, better known as the “Headscarf Game” or “Indian Dream”. The principle? Hold your breath for as long as possible, blocking blood flow to the brain, until you faint. However, the damage can be much more serious, ranging from the destruction of brain cells to lifelong intellectual disability to death.
The challenge was not born on TikTok, quite the opposite. For more than a decade, it has polluted playgrounds and caused the deaths of at least 82 children and adolescents around the world, according to the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While inflicting hundreds more brain damage.
Two girls, Lalani Erika Renee Walton and Arriani Jaileen Arroyo, 8 and 9, died in 2021 due to this blackout challenge. At the end of June, when they discovered the challenge on TikTok, the parents decided to sue the social network, which, as we recall, is extremely popular with under-18s. They accuse the algorithm of highlighting dangerous content.
Lalani was found “hanging from her bed with a rope around her neck” by her stepmother. “She thought if she posted a video of herself doing the ‘Blackout Challenge,’ she would become famous. She had therefore decided to give it a try,” explains the complaint. Arriani had tried to suffocate himself with the dog’s leash.
The complaint lists other challenges, one sillier than the next, which are regularly featured in the news feed: the “Fire Mirror Challenge” – which consists of lighting a mirror with deodorant and a lighter – the “Boiling Water Challenge” – boiling Throwing water at your friends or taking water.
“TikTok must be held accountable”
Attorney Matthew Bergman, who specializes in defending victims of abuse linked to social media operations, said in a statement Tuesday, July 5, “TikTok must be held responsible for targeting these two young girls with deadly content ( …) That has invested billions of dollars in the development of products designed to distribute dangerous content, knowing that this content is dangerous and can lead to the death of its users.”
At the moment, the platform has not responded to this complaint. But last May, when TikTok was sued by the family of Nylah Anderson, 10, who died in the same challenge, a spokesperson for the social network responded to the People magazine columns: “This disturbing challenge that people seem to know from sources except TikTok, far older than our platform and never been TikTok trends (…) We remain vigilant in our commitment to user safety and would immediately remove any content related to this challenge if connected to the platform. We offer our deepest condolences to the family for this tragic loss.”
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