Stephen: TikTok sued after two children die doing “blackout challenge”

TikTok has been sued over the deaths of an eight-year-old girl and a nine-year-old girl who were doing the “blackout challenge” promoted by the social media platform. The challenge encourages users to hold their breath until they pass out. Nine-year-old Arriani Jaileen Arroyo was found hanging in her Milwaukee home in February 2021, and eight-year-old Lalani Erika Renee Walton of Temple, Texas, was also found hanging at her home that same month. The Social Media Victims Law Center, which is representing the parents, said TikTok’s algorithm regularly made blackout challenge videos appear on the girls’ “for you” pages. The Verge reports that the dangerous social media challenge is now allegedly responsible for the deaths of seven children.