Four UK-based families have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against TikTok. As part of the suit, they claim that their children died from the purported “blackout challenge.
The children, who were aged 12, 13, and 14, died in 2022 within 45 days of each other. Their names were Isaac Kenevan, Archie Battersbee, Julian Sweeney, and Maia Walsh.
Specifically, as reported by the London Standard, these families want access to their children’s social media data in order to determine their cause of death. However, TikTok has already said that this might not be possible. Giles Derrington, TikTok’s senior government relations manager, told BBC Radio 5 (via the London Standard) that “there are some things we simply don’t have.”
“This is really complicated because it relates to legal requirements regarding data removal,” he said. “Under data protection laws, we are required to delete data quickly, and that impacts what we can do.”
What Is the Blackout Challenge?
As the name implies, the “blackout challenge” involves a person filming themselves choking until they pass out.
In the US, several parents have already sued the app after claiming that their children died in similar circumstances. However, TikTok has always staunchly denied that such a trend was circulating on the app.
Back in 2021, a TikTok spokesperson said: “We do not allow content that encourages, promotes, or glorifies dangerous behavior that might lead to injury, and our teams work diligently to identify and remove content that violates our policies.”
Derrington expressed similar sentiments in his conversation with Radio 5, adding that “since 2020, [TikTok] have completely banned even being able to search for the words ‘blackout challenge’ or variants of it, to try and make sure that no-one is coming across that kind of content.”
So, does the blackout challenge actually exist? It’s hard to say, but this case does raise even more questions over what exactly TikTok does with your data.
Further reading:
- The Brain Rot Words List Challenge Highlights Zoomer Dadaism On TikTok
- Section 230 Won’t Shield TikTok From ‘Blackout Challenge’ Lawsuit
- Roblox, Google, OpenAI, and Discord Join Together To Found ROOST, A Child Safety Group
- TikTok, Meta, and Google Face Child Safety Lawsuits in the US
- 13 States Sue TikTok Over Child Safety
