A group of parents in the United States has initiated a lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company, Bytedance, following the tragic deaths of their children. These incidents occurred after the children participated in the "blackout challenge," a dangerous activity that reportedly circulated on TikTok in 2022. The lawsuit claims that TikTok violated its own guidelines concerning harmful content and failed to prevent the spread of the challenge on its platform.
The "blackout challenge," which predates TikTok, involves individuals attempting to black out or pass out, leading to severe physical harm or even death. Though TikTok maintains that it has never found the challenge trending on its platform, the parents assert that their children fell victim to it due to its widespread presence on TikTok. The platform has long established rules prohibiting content that could cause significant physical harm.
Seeking clarity on their children's deaths, the parents have asked TikTok for data they believe could provide crucial insights. However, they face challenges as some of this information may have been erased due to data protection laws. TikTok has banned searches for "blackout challenge" keywords since 2020 and has dedicated over $2 billion to moderating content, employing tens of thousands of human moderators globally. Despite these efforts, the parents have accused TikTok of lacking compassion.
Giles Dennington, TikTok's senior government relations manager, expressed empathy towards the grieving families.
"I have young kids myself and I can only imagine how much they want to get answers and want to understand what's happened," he said.
Dennington emphasized TikTok's commitment to safety and assistance for affected families.
"We've had conversations with some of those parents already to try and help them in that," he noted.
However, he acknowledged the complexities surrounding data retention and deletion, stating that legal requirements often necessitate swift data removal.
"This is really complicated stuff because it relates to the legal requirements around when we remove data and we have, under data protection laws, requirements to remove data quite quickly. That impacts on what we can do," Dennington explained.
He further stated that compliance with data protection laws is expected and adhered to by TikTok.
"Everyone expects that when we are required by law to delete some data, we will have deleted it."
Despite these legal constraints, Dennington reiterated TikTok's commitment to ensuring user safety.
"This is a really, really tragic situation but we are trying to make sure that we are constantly doing everything we can to make sure that people are safe on TikTok," he affirmed.
He also assured that neither TikTok nor its users desire such harmful content on the platform.
The Social Media Victims Law Center represents the parents in this lawsuit, highlighting a growing concern over the influence of social media challenges on young users. The case underscores the ongoing debate about platform responsibility and the need for effective measures to safeguard vulnerable users from dangerous online trends.