Social networks can become a double-edged sword, especially at an early age. The relatives of two young Americans who died in 2021 have filed a lawsuit against TikTok . These blame the “dangerous” algorithms of the ‘app’ for the death of minors, who would have participated in one of the dangerous viral challenges that proliferate inside.
Specifically, the young women would have participated in the dangerous ‘ blackout challenge ‘, in which users are invited to strangle themselves with a belt until they can’t take it anymore.
Precisely, this same challenge caused the brain death of a 12-year-old British boy a few weeks ago, as several media outlets reported at the time, including ABC. In Italy, another minor died, allegedly, because of this challenge at the beginning of last year.
The families of the two minors, who filed the lawsuit last Tuesday before the Superior Court of the state of California, are represented by the organization dedicated to the legal support of parents whose children suffer from problems of addiction and abuse of social networks Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC).
It points out in a statement that TikTok has “a flawed design” and that it is an “addictive product that is not safe for users and does not warn minors and their parents that it is addictive and pushes harmful content.”
“TikTok must be held accountable for sending these two young women lethal content,” said Matthew P. Bergman, founding attorney for SMVLC. The lawyer points out that the ‘app’ “has invested billions of dollars to intentionally design products that promote dangerous content that he knows is dangerous and can cause the death of its users.”
ABC has contacted TikTok to find out its position on the lawsuit . At the moment, he has not received a response from any spokesperson for the social network.
Under 10 years
The two young women who died as a result of the ‘blackout challenge’, according to SMVLC, were less than ten years old. The oldest was Lalani Erika Renée Walton , a resident of Temple, Texas, and just nine years old. Her youngest received her first smartphone at eight, and she started using TikTok behind her family’s back to share videos of her singing and dancing.
The young woman died on July 15, 2021. She had participated in the blackout challenge taking advantage of the fact that the relative she was with was taking a nap.
The other victim is Arriani Jaileen Arroyo , eight years old and a native of Milwaukee, a city located in the state of Wisconsin. In this case, the first mobile fell into his hands at the age of 7, and it was then that she began uploading content to the Chinese video application. It wasn’t long before she started taking part in viral challenges.
The minor died on February 26, 2021 after participating in the blackout challenge, taking advantage of the fact that her mother was in the Church and her father working in the basement of the home.
Report a bug