10-year-old girl died after ‘Blackout Challenge,’ mom says in lawsuit against TikTok

Nylah Anderson was 10 years old when her mom says she attempted a viral challenge she learned about on TikTok.

Known as the “Blackout Challenge,” the dare involves kids trying to choke themselves until they pass out while recording video, according to a federal lawsuit.

Attempting the challenge killed Nylah — and now her mom is suing TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, in federal court.

In a lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on May 12, the legal team representing mother Tawainna Anderson, of Chester, says her daughter was an “active, happy, healthy, and incredibly intelligent child” who even spoke three languages.

But on Dec. 7, she “fell victim to the TikTok Defendants’ predatory and manipulative app and algorithm,” according to the lawsuit.

“Prompted by the never-ending stream of notifications from the TikTok app that were pushed to the forefront of Nylah’s attention every day, Nylah began attempting to TikTok challenges that were presented to her on her (For You page),” the lawsuit says. The “app and algorithm pushed exceedingly and unacceptably dangerous challenges and videos to Nylah’s FYP, thus encouraging her to engage and participate in the challenges.”

TikTok denies the Blackout Challenge has ever been a trend on its app, a spokesperson said in a statement to McClatchy News.

“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,” the company statement said. “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.”

TikTok’s website also says the social media service does not allow users to share content “that may lead to serious injury or death.”

Anderson, suing on behalf of herself and her daughter’s estate, believes TikTok is responsible in her daughter’s wrongful death.

Before Nylah tried the Blackout Challenge, attorneys say she saw a video of it on her FYP, a feed of curated videos for app users.

And on Dec. 7, she went into her mother’s bedroom and attempted to perform the blackout, according to the lawsuit. She “endured hellacious suffering as she struggled and fought for breath and slowly asphyxiated until near the point of death,” then her mom came to find her unconscious.

The mother tried to resuscitate her daughter, the lawsuit says, but she was unable to do so before help arrived. Nylah was taken to a hospital where she died five days later of related injuries.

“The TikTok Defendants’ algorithm determined that the deadly Blackout Challenge was well-tailored and likely to be of interest to 10-year-old Nylah Anderson, and she died as a result,” according to the lawsuit, adding that at least four children died from attempting the challenge before Nylah did.

The legal team representing the Anderson family says TikTok and its parent company “knew or should have known that failing to take immediate and significant action to extinguish the spread of the deadly Blackout Challenge would result in more injuries and deaths.”

In filing this lawsuit, they are seeking compensatory damages of $100,000.

This story was originally published May 13, 2022 at 9:54 AM with the headline "10-year-old girl died after ‘Blackout Challenge,’ mom says in lawsuit against TikTok."