TikTok fined $10M after children die attempting “dangerous” chemical challenges

TikTok has been fined $10M after three children were killed attempting viral challenges popularized on the app that involved “dangerous” chemicals.

On December 30, Venezuela’s top court ordered TikTok to establish an office in the country and pay a $10M fine within ten days.

As reported by Bloomberg, the deaths of three children aged 12, 13 and 14 prompted the court to summon TikTok officials and address the situation.

The children reportedly took part in challenges that involved ingesting and inhaling “dangerous mixes” of chemicals, according to President Nicolas Maduro.

The judges claimed that TikTok was responsible for the “lack of timely control” of the challenges, which also injured dozens of others. They further stated that money from the $10M fine will go towards compensating the victims.

TikTok faces numerous legal challenges for viral trends

TikTok challenges have resulted in quite a few deaths over the years, with the video platform facing numerous lawsuits as a result.

Perhaps most infamously, the ‘blackout’ challenge, which dares participants to hold their breath for as long as they can before passing out, has claimed several lives.

A Pennsylvania mother sued the app when her ten-year-old daughter died in December 2021 after purportedly attempting the challenge.

Another mom sued TikTok after her son died trying the viral ‘subway surfing’ trend – a challenge that killed at least five people last year alone. The teen reportedly hit his head on a low-hanging beam and fell between cars on a New York City subway.

And back in 2023, TikTok was hit with a $368M fine by European regulators for failing to protect children’s privacy after an investigation found that children under the age of 13 were at risk.

This all comes as TikTok faces a nationwide ban in the United States if its parent company doesn’t sell off its US operations due to ByteDance having access to US citizens’ data and its connection to the Chinese Communist Party.