Social Media Challenges

TikTok “challenges” have been blamed for grievous spinal injuries, horrific burns, and, at one point in the not-too-distant past, a global shortage of Ozempic.

Now, the world’s second most popular social media app will be forced to explain itself as it battles accusations that it knowingly steered potentially dangerous videos to young people while ignoring warnings of death and destruction in an attempt to maximize profits.

An opinion handed down Tuesday by a US appeals court breathed new life into a momentous lawsuit filed by a grieving mother who believes TikTok is culpable for the loss of her daughter.

Federal law “provides TikTok immunity from suit for hosting videos created and uploaded by third parties,” US Circuit Judge Paul Matey wrote in his partial concurrence.

At the same time, it does not protect TikTok from being held to account for what Matey described as its alleged “knowing distribution and targeted recommendation of videos it knew could be harmful.”

In a statement provided on Wednesday to The Independent, attorney Jeffrey Goodman, who argued the appeal on behalf of the Anderson family, said, “Big Tech just lost its ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card. This ruling ensures that the powerful social media companies will have to play by the same rules as all other corporations, and when they indifferently cause harm to children, they will face their day in court.”

It was the TikTok-infamous “Blackout Challenge” that killed 10-year-old Nylah Anderson, according to her mom.

In December 2021, Philadelphia-area resident Tawainna Anderson discovered her daughter’s lifeless body on the bedroom floor, following the “active, happy, healthy, and incredibly intelligent” girl’s attempt to complete the challenge, in which users of the world’s second most popular non-gaming app choked themselves with belts, towels, or other objects until they passed out. Nylah was rushed to the hospital, where she died five days later.

Over an 18-month span between 2021 and 2022, the Blackout Challenge was said to have killed 20 children in 18 months, 15 of them under the age of 12. And it’s hardly the only dangerous “challenge” to go viral.

The “Skullbreaker Challenge,” which involves kicking a person’s legs out from under them as they jump into the air, nearly paralyzed a 13-year-old Pennsylvania girl, and has led to criminal charges in at least one instance.

The so-called Angel of Death Challenge, a “game” in which participants jump in front of moving vehicles to see if they’ll stop in time, has reportedly led to multiple deaths.

And when a 12-year-old Arizona boy attempted the TikTok “Fire Challenge,” where youngsters record themselves igniting blazes at home, he landed in the ICU and has undergone multiple surgeries since…….,



https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...hallenge-nylah-anderson-lawsuit-b2603370.html