TikTok sued after teens die attempting “blackout challenge” trend

TikTok has been sued by the parents of four teenagers who allegedly died while attempting the viral “blackout challenge.”

Since its launch in 2016, TikTok has been the home for thousands of viral trends and other videos from people around the world.

One trend is called the Blackout Challenge and dares users to see how long they can hold their breath before ultimately passing out. Although it’s gained popularity on TikTok, the trend predates the app by quite a few years as studies show 82 children died doing the dare between 1995 and 2007.

On Friday, February 7, BBC reported that TikTok is facing a lawsuit from the parents of four British teens who claim their children died while attempting the “blackout challenge.”

Families file wrongful death lawsuit against TikTok

According to the publication, the lawsuit claims Isaac Kenevan, Archie Battersbee, Julian “Jools” Sweeney, and Maia Walsh died back in 2022 while doing the viral challenge.

The wrongful death lawsuit was filed by the Social Media Victims Law Center in Seattle, Washington, through the Superior Court of the State of Delaware on behalf the four teenagers parents.

It claims the deaths were “the foreseeable result of ByteDance’s engineered addiction-by-design and programming decisions” and that those decisions were “aimed at pushing children into maximizing their engagement with TikTok by any means necessary.”

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Ellen Roome, Jools’ mother, spoke out against TikTok in a statement given to the BBC.

She said: “I thought TikTok was silly dances and silly challenges like standing on your hands and putting your t-shirt on upside-down – Jools and I did several of those challenges – because we just thought they were fun.

“It isn’t that – there’s some harmful material there, and I think parents need to be aware and really, if they can, get their children to show them their phone.”

This isn’t the first lawsuit TikTok has faced over the last few months, either. Back in October, 13 US states sued the ByteDance-owned company and claimed that the app’s beauty filters and ability to auto-scroll through videos harm children.