Tiktok faces a new lawsuit over the death of two girls

Two girls, Lalani Erika Walton (8-year-old) and Arriani Jaileen Arroyo (9-year-old), are reportedly dead while attempting one of the viscious challenges on TikTok.

A report by the Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC) said the minors died of self-strangulation while attempting a blackout challenge, which encourages users to choke themselves with belts, purse strings, or other similar items until passing out.

“TikTok needs to be held accountable for pushing deadly content to these two young girls,” said Matthew P. Bergman, founding attorney of SMVLC.

SMVLC says it has filed two wrongful death lawsuits which were filed in The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles.

The case (number: 22STCV21355) alleges that TikTok’s dangerous algorithm intentionally and repeatedly pushed the deadly “Blackout Challenge” into both Lalani and Arriani’s TikTok “For You Page” incentivizing them to participate in the challenge that ultimately took their lives.

A TikTok spokesperson told People that “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.”

“We remain vigilant in our commitment to user safety and would immediately remove related content if found,” they added.

Unfortunately, Lalani and Arriani are not the only teens to die while attempting this challenge. Four other teenage children have also died from trying to mimic the videos.

The “blackout challenge” has been around since at least 2008, according to People, but it started making the rounds on TikTok again in 2021. Experts have warned young users not to try the trend, which has previously led to more than 80 deaths, per the CDC.

We did report last year that TikTok is making changes in an effort to prevent deadly challenges and hoaxes from spreading on the platform. TikTok promised to “remove alarmist warnings” to prevent any hoaxes from being taken seriously. The company also said it will include new technologies that will inform the company’s safety experts if it detects potentially risky conduct.

The deaths of Lalani Erika Walton and Arriani Jaileen Arroyo is really sad. TikTok claims “most challenges are fun and safe” mentioning the #IceBucketChallenge and #BlindingLightsChallenge. But, this is not the case!