Even with their whole ingenious skill-set, human beings have repeatedly failed to prove themselves as perfect. In fact, our flaws would pop up on the surface time and time again, bringing a range of detrimental consequences into the picture. Now, when you are dealing with such a risk, you naturally want some sort of protection at the very least. We will, on our part, find the stated protection in a full-fledged regulatory industry. Having dedicated regulation across the entire spectrum was a game-changer, as it literally made us more organized than ever before. However, the dynamic will shift yet again once technology enters the fray. Technology, despite being so valuable, would spell some serious trouble for the regulators, and it will do so purely on the back of its layered nature, which allowed the rule breakers to hide their misdoings without facing any consequences at all. This disturbing reality is now fortunately going through a complete overhaul. To be honest, the evidence for the same is apparent in one recent lawsuit against TikTok.
TikTok, and the parent company, ByteDance are officially being sued over a dangerous challenge that led to the death of one 10-year old girl, Nylah Anderson. As per the girl’s mother, her daughter got to know about the famous blackout challenge through the TikTok’s For You section, which begs a question about how TikTok’s algorithm determined that such a deadly challenge matched with the 10-year old girl’s interests. In case you are unaware of the blackout challenge, it’s basically based on encouraging people to hold their breath or asphyxiate using external means until they pass out. Nevertheless, when asked to provide a response, TikTok refuted to take the entire blame.
“This disturbing ‘challenge,’ which people seem to learn about from sources other than TikTok, long predates our platform and has never been a TikTok trend,” said a TikTok spokesperson. “We remain vigilant in our commitment to user safety and would immediately remove related content if found. Our deepest sympathies go out to the family for their tragic loss.”
Nylah’s case joins a host of other deaths that were caused by the same blackout challenge. One example here would a 12-year boy named Joshua Haileyesus, who attempted the challenge, and as a result, had to stay on life support for 19 days before he eventually lost his life.
“Our lawsuit is not about simply somebody posting the video, it’s about the actions that TikTok took to send the video to Nylah,” said attorney Jeffrey Goodman, partner at Saltz Mongeluzzi & Bendesky P.C.