12-Year-Old on Life Support Dies After Attempting TikTok ‘Blackout Challenge’
By Movieguide® Staff
In April 2022, 12-year-old Archie Battersbee became another victim of the popular social media challenge on TikTok called the “blackout challenge.”
Battersbee’s mother found her 12-year-old son unconscious after he took part in the dangerous challenge. Archie, who was on life support since April, recently died according to The Independent.
Archie’s parents, like many others, filed a lawsuit against TikTok for their negligent business practices which put children in harm’s way.
The challenge grew in popularity on TikTok, the most popular social media platform today, with one billion active users worldwide.
The platform, owned by Bytedance, is not stranger to lawsuits from parents who have had children die after attempting the challenge.
Movieguide® previously reported:
A recent report highlighted the fatal results of one challenge, the “blackout challenge.” The popular TikTok challenge encourages users to strangle themselves until they pass out. According to The Verge, seven children have died trying to mimic the trend.
One lawsuit against the video-sharing app alleges that “[TikTok has a] duty to monitor the videos and challenges shared, posted, and / or circulated on its app and platform to ensure that dangerous and deadly videos and challenges were not posted, shared, circulated, recommended, and / or encouraged.”
Life-threatening challenges are not the only dangerous trends on TikTok. Movieguide® previously reported on two former TikTok content moderators who filed lawsuits for the app’s promotion of pornographic and disturbing content:
Two former TikTok moderators are suing the video sharing app after claiming they experienced emotional trauma after seeing “highly toxic and extremely disturbing” videos every day.
TikTok moderators review videos posted on the app and determine if they break any of the site’s content rules and guidelines.
“We would see death and graphic, graphic pornography. I would see nude underage children every day,” Ashley Velez said. “I would see people get shot in the face, and another video of a kid getting beaten made me cry for two hours straight.”
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