New York, Europe Brief News – Parents of two young girls who allegedly died as a result of a viral TikTok challenge have sued the social media platform.
The suit said the “dangerous” algorithms are to blame for their children’s deaths.
The two girls died in a 2021 “blackout challenge” on TikTok, which encouraged users to choke themselves until they passed out.
Represented by the Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC), a legal resource for parents of children harmed by social media addiction and abuse, they allege the platform’s “dangerous algorithm intentionally and repeatedly” pushed videos of the challenge into the children’s feeds, incentivizing them to participate in the challenge that ultimately took their lives.
“TikTok needs to be held accountable for pushing deadly content to these two young girls,” said Matthew P Bergman, founding attorney of SMVLC.
“TikTok has invested billions of dollars to intentionally design products that push dangerous content that it knows is dangerous and can result in the deaths of its users.”
One victim, eight-year-old Lalani Erika Renee Walton of Temple, Texas, is described as “an extremely sweet and outgoing young girl” who “loved dressing up as a princess and playing with makeup”.
She died on 15 July 2021 in what police determined was “a direct result of attempting TikTok’s ‘Blackout Challenge’”, according to the complaint.
