British families sue TikTok over deaths in blackout challenge

What happened

A group of five British families filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Delaware claiming their children died while attempting a blackout challenge promoted on TikTok. The children named are Julian "Jools" Sweeney, Isaac Kenevan, Archie Battersbee, Noah Gibson, and Maia Walsh.

The lawsuit, filed by the Social Media Victims Law Centre, claims the deaths were "the foreseeable result of ByteDance's engineered addiction-by-design and programming decisions," which were "aimed at pushing children into maximising their engagement with TikTok by any means necessary."

Reported impact

A parent stated she has been blocked from accessing her son's account and has had difficulty obtaining data from TikTok and ByteDance that could provide clarity about his death.

Governance controls

TikTok stated: "We strictly prohibit content that promotes or encourages dangerous behaviour."

Classification

Organizations

TikTok (defendant), ByteDance (defendant), Social Media Victims Law Centre (plaintiff), Ellen Roome (victim), Hollie Dance (victim), Lisa Kenevan (victim), Liam Walsh (victim)

Category

Safety and wellbeing

Industry

Media, social platforms and marketing

Country

United States

Harm status

Actual harm

Intent

Unknown

Timing

Post-deployment

Harm types

Physical death, Psychological, Human or fundamental rights

Harmed

Children, Consumers

Failure modes

Overreliance

Consequences

Litigation

AI systems

TikTok recommendation algorithm

Sources and evidence

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