TikTok sued in US after ladies die in ‘Blackout Challenge’

A lawsuit was filed in a state court docket in Los Angeles after two ladies aged eight and 9 died whereas collaborating in a “Blackout Challenge” that makes a sport of choking oneself till passing out.

A wrongful dying lawsuit was filed in a state court docket in Los Angeles (AFP photograph/Representational)

Video-sharing sensation TikTok is being sued in California after kids died whereas collaborating in a “Blackout Challenge” that makes a sport of choking oneself till passing out.

The lawsuit filed in state court docket in Los Angeles final week accuses TikTok software program of “intentionally and repeatedly” pushing the Blackout Challenge that led to the deaths of an eight-year-old lady in Texas and a nine-year-old lady in Wisconsin final 12 months.

“TikTok needs to be held accountable for pushing deadly content to these two young girls,” mentioned Matthew Bergman, an lawyer on the Social Media Victims Law Center, which filed the swimsuit.

“TikTok has invested billions of dollars to intentionally design products that push dangerous content that it knows are dangerous and can result in the deaths of its users.”

TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

The swimsuit alleges that TikTok’s algorithm promoted the Blackout Challenge to every of the ladies, who died from self-strangulation — one utilizing rope and the opposite a canine leash.

It moreover listed kids in Italy, Australia and elsewhere whose deaths have been linked to the TikTok Blackout Challenge.

TikTok has featured and promoted an array of challenges through which customers movie themselves collaborating in themed acts which might be typically harmful.

Among the litany of TikTok challenges described in court docket paperwork was the “Skull Breaker Challenge” through which folks have their legs kicked out from underneath them whereas leaping in order that they flip and hit their heads.

The “Coronavirus Challenge” includes licking random gadgets and surfaces in public through the pandemic, and the “Fire Challenge” includes dousing issues with flammable liquid and setting them ablaze, court docket paperwork mentioned.

The swimsuit requires a choose to order TikTok to cease hooking kids through its algorithm and selling harmful challenges, and to pay unspecified money damages.

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