The parents of two girls who claimed their daughters died as a result of a “blackout challenge” on TikTok are suing the company, alleging that its algorithm purposefully gave the kids harmful content that resulted in their deaths.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed on Thursday in Superior Court in Los Angeles County, the girls, who were 8 and 9, died last year after witnessing the challenge, which pushed users to choke themselves until they passed out.
According to the lawsuit, TikTok knew or should have known that its product was “addictive” and that it was leading kids to harmful content, yet it did nothing to halt the videos or alert kids and parents to them.
“TikTok needs to be held accountable for pushing deadly content to these two young girls,” said Matthew P. Bergman, founding lawyer of the Social Media Victims Law Center.
Represented by the Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC), a legal resource for parents of children harmed by social media addiction and abuse, they allege the platform’s “dangerous algorithm intentionally and repeatedly” pushed videos of the challenge into the children’s feeds, incentivizing them to participate in the challenge that ultimately took their lives.
