Mother Sues TikTok Over Her 10-year-old Daughter’s Death
The mother of a 10-year-old girl alleged to have died after taking part in a viral social media challenge last December has hit TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance with a wrongful death lawsuit.
According to the mother, identified as Tawainna Anderson, her daughter, Nylah lost her life to complicated injuries in December after taking part in the “Blackout Challenge.”
The infamous Blackout Challenge encourages social media users to try to hold their breath until they pass out.
As stated in the lawsuit which was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Thursday,12th May 2022, Anderson had found her daughter almost lifelessly out on Dec. 7 and rushed her to a hospital, where she spent days in a pediatric intensive care unit before succumbing to her injuries on December 12.
Anderson has accused TikTok and its parent company of negligence and having a “defective design,” blaming the platform’s algorithms for exposing a young child to a dangerous challenge. TikTok’s interface automatically suggests video to users as they scroll the app’s main feed, known as its “For You Page.”
Reacting in a statement, TikTok has said the “disturbing ‘challenge,’ which people seem to learn about from sources other than TikTok, long predates our platform and has never been a TikTok trend.”