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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Rachel Hall

Parents sue TikTok over child deaths allegedly caused by ‘blackout challenge’

TikTok Archie Battersbee Ellen Roome Maia Walsh ByteDance Lawsuit the Social Media Victims Law Center
A view of the app for TikTok on a phone screen
According to TikTok, searches for videos or hashtags related to the challenge have been blocked since 2020. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA Media

The parents of four British teenagers have sued TikTok over the deaths of their children, which they claim were the result of the viral “blackout challenge”.

The lawsuit claims Isaac Kenevan, 13, Archie Battersbee, 12, Julian “Jools” Sweeney, 14, and Maia Walsh, 13, died in 2022 while attempting the “blackout challenge”, which became popular on social media in 2021.

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