Families take TikTok to court after girls died while trying “Blackout challenge”

The families of 2 young girls who allegedly died due to a viral TikTok challenge have sued the social media platform with immediate effect, claiming its compelling algorithms led to the death of their daughters.

The still-devastated parents of the two girls who died during the 2021 “Blackout challenge” on TikTok – which encouraged users to choke themselves until they passed out – recently filed a suit in the Los Angeles county superior court.

Represented by the Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC), a legal resource for parents of children harmed by all kinds of social media addiction and abuse, the aggrieved parents revealed that they believe TikTok’s dangerous algorithm intentionally and repeatedly forced clips of the challenge into their kids’ feeds until it eventually compelled the youngsters to partake and lose their lives.

Matthew P Bergman, founding attorney of SMVLC, said, “TikTok needs to be held accountable for pushing harmful content to these two young girls. 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 of the victims, 8-year-old Lalani Erika Renee Walton, was described as a very sweet and outgoing young girl who only loved glamming up as a princess and using makeup. She met her death on the 15th of July last year in what the police described as “a direct result of attempting TikTok’s ‘Blackout Challenge.’

source https://www.jbklutse.com/families-take-tiktok-to-court-after-girls-died-while-trying-blackout-challenge/