By: Wall Street Journal
Date: July 7, 2022
The parents of two children have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against TikTok, alleging that the minors died from participating in the “blackout challenge” after seeing it on the app.
Lalani Erika Renee Walton, an 8-year-old girl from Temple, Texas, and Arriani Jaileen Arroyo, a 9-year-old girl from Milwaukee, both died last year after attempting the challenge, according to the lawsuit. The challenge involves people choking themselves until they pass out.
The lawsuit filed last week in Superior Court in Los Angeles County alleges that TikTok’s algorithm intentionally and repeatedly pushed the blackout challenge on the popular short-form video app and motivated both children to participate. The suit also claims that TikTok failed to warn minors and their parents that the app is addictive and pushes harmful content that could endanger the well-being of users.