TikTok is sued by parents of girls aged 8 and 9 ‘who accidentally hanged themselves after being bombarded with “Blackout Challenge” clips by app’s algorithm’ The Daily Mail UK
What is TikTok?
TikTok is the world’s most downloaded app, with 800 million using it globally –
but most of them are children.
TIKTOK is a video-based social media app most popular with youth – but negative headlines have many asking what it is and what it does.
Despite TikTok being one of the world’s most downloaded phone app, many have branded it a “magnet for paedophiles”, prompting a new investigation into the software and its uses.
- TikTok is a Chinese video and music-based social media app that allows users to create and share short videos with special effects.
- It was the world’s second most downloaded app in the third quarter of 2019, with an estimated 176 million downloads.
- Jokes, clips and footage dominate the platform, along with memes and videos in which youngsters, some scantily clad, lip-sync and dance to popular music.
- It is a video-only interface, which makes it less elaborate, less detailed and much easier to use than platforms such as Facebook or Twitter.
The popular social network app is most popular among children under 16.
These are only a partial listing of some of the dangerous TikTok challenges.
As a parent it is vital for you to be continuously aware and become educated on the many changing TikTok challenges which are extremely dangerous and possibly lethal.
Tripping/Skullbreaker Challenge
Fire Challenge
Suicide, end-of-life videos challenge TikTok, Facebook, other social media providers
It simply consists of one person jumping in the air and two others kicking their legs out from under them, causing them to fall backward.
According to Dr. Nathan Richards, an internal medicine and pediatric specialist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center the skull breaker challenge can be fatal.
‘It can be associated with a variety of serious and even life-threatening injuries including, but not limited to, bruising, hematoma, skull fracture, neck strain, neck fracture, concussion and long term complications of concussion, bleeding in or around the brain, loss of consciousness, paralysis, and death,’ said Richards.
TikTok fire challenge is easy to participate in: simply cover yourself in flammable liquid and light it on fire.
It may seem to defy all common sense, but then, teenage recklessness knows no bounds. The fire challenge carries significant risk of, obviously, first- or second-degree burns — assuming the flames are extinguished quickly.
TikTok says it’s working to remove videos of a man apparently taking his own life and banning users that keep trying to spread the clips on the popular social media platform.
It comes days after another social media controversy over a live death. Facebook on Saturday blocked live broadcasts from a chronically ill bed-ridden man who who wanted to show what he expects will be a painful end to his life and had appealed to French President Emmanuel Macron for a medically-assisted death.
It’s the latest example of the ongoing struggle by big tech companies to police their platforms for harmful content amid increasing pressure from regulators.
The video was originally livestreamed on Facebook before being circulated on other platforms including TikTok, the company said.
It didn’t not give more details about the video but news reports say it has been circulating on TikTok since Sunday and shows a man shooting himself with a gun.
Hot Water Challenge
Some of these challenges are so brutal and cruel, they essentially amount to assault. The hot water challenge involves, simply, pouring boiling hot water onto someone, invariably causing injury.
One boy in Indiana told local news that, when his friend poured boiling water on him, “my skin just fell off my chest, and then I looked in the mirror and I had skin falling off here and on my face.”
Salt and Ice Challenge
One of many pre-existing “challenges” to make its way to the TikTok platform, the salt and ice challenge has been kicking around the internet since around 2012. It involves putting salt on one’s skin and holding an ice cube on the spot for as long as possible.
The combination creates a chemical reaction that causes pain and can lead to frostbite, first- or second-degree burns, and blisters.
Benadryl Challenge
This challenge is based on encouraging people, primarily teens, to engage in popping a lot of Benadryl pills in search of a “high.” What it doesn’t tell you, however, is that this very process of ingesting such a large number of Benadryl pills could lead to stroke, heart attack, brain damage and even death.
The idea behind the TikTok ‘Benadryl Challenge’ is to demonstrate that after taking 12 or more of these pills, the person taking them will be able to experience a high like no other, and one that has been compared to a level of hallucination. The results have been devastating.
Reports indicated that the Cook Children’s Health Care doctors have revealed that three teenagers “were hospitalized in the Fort Worth, Texas hospital after overdosing on diphenhydramine (aka Benadryl).”
Apparently, after receiving treatment for their scary symptoms and medical episodes, “all three told medical staff that they got the idea after watching videos on TikTok that said they could get high and hallucinate if they took a dozen or more Benadryl tablets.”
Health.com reported, “Benadryl is an anticholinergic drug.” It can cause seizures, coma, even death. This medication “blocks the cholinergic nervous system, which is responsible for saliva production and tear production, and facilitates bodily functions such as urination, heart rate, body temperature, brain function, and eye functioning.”
Penny Challenge (Fire Hazard)
The app allows users to share short videos from their phones, which can be seen and shared by millions.
The challenge involves sliding a penny behind a partially plugged-in phone charger. The coin will strike the metal prongs, causing sparks, electrical system damage, and in some cases fire.
Cha Cha Slide Challenge
Encourages drivers to swerve along the road in time with music. With videos garnering more than 2.8 million views, TikTok recently took down videos of users filming the challenge.
Pass Out Challenge
Flash Eye Challenge
This simple but dangerous challenge is disturbingly easy for young people to do.
Pass out challenge videos show TikTok users swinging their heads from side to side 18 times, apparently causing them to pass out.
The internet is full of videos that seem to show the trick working, with users collapsing moments after completing the head shakes. Of course, any situation that involves rapidly whipping your head around and results in falling unconscious carries the risk of brain and head injuries.
One TikTok user’s viral video spawned a trend that is endangering eyes everywhere.
In the video, a brown-eyed girl shows viewers how they can use filters and their phone’s flash to make their eyes appear to be different colors.
The trick involves staring into the camera flash without blinking for several seconds. According to optometrists, doing so can create temporary blindness or even permanent blind spots in vision.
In fact, hundreds of comments on the original video are complaints of dysfunctional vision from people who have tried it.