
Yet the effects were dramatically, devastatingly different.
#The black out plus
The earlier outage affected far more people (25 million, spanning New York and seven other states, plus two Canadian provinces, compared to the 9 million people in New York and its northern suburbs who lost power in ’77, per TIME).

The mayhem of 1977 came as a night-and-day contrast with New York’s previous citywide blackout, in 1965. The sweltering streets became a battleground, where, per the Post, “even the looters were being mugged.” Open communication in conjunction with risk assessment tips from TikTok work best to empower young users to make safe decisions.Opportunistic thieves grabbed whatever they could get their hands on, from luxury cars to sink stoppers and clothespins, according to the New York Post. Even so, parents are encouraged to have discussions with their children about online challenges, no matter what their age, and give them guidance on what challenges are safe for them to participate in and which ones are not. It’s not a perfect method to stop the blackout challenge, but it helps ensure that dangerous videos are more difficult to come by.
#The black out how to
Now, when TikTok users try to search for the blackout challenge, a warning message pops up instead of related videos, saying, “Some online challenges can be dangerous, disturbing, or even fabricated.” TikTok then redirects users to safety resources, providing information on how to assess challenges and warnings, and encouraging them to report any dangerous material they see. Our deepest sympathies go out to the family for this tragic loss.” We remain vigilant in our commitment to user safety and would immediately remove related content if found. It released the same statement following the news of both lawsuits, saying, “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. It’s also clarifying that the challenge was never a TikTok trend in the first place. TikTok responded to the aforementioned lawsuits by saying that it’s enacting safety measures to prevent children from searching for blackout challenge videos. What TikTok’s doing to stop the blackout challenge It is inexcusable.”Īll parties are seeking jury trials and monetary damages for pain, suffering, and other expenses incurred by the deaths of their children from the Blackout Challenge. Her suit claimed that TikTok “sent what was essentially a how-to asphyxiate yourself video, disguised as a challenge, to a 10-year-old. The suit cited five other cases of children dying after participating in the blackout challenge between January and December of 2021, including a 10-year-old girl in Italy (whom Arroyo told her parents about), two 12-year-old boys in Colorado and Oklahoma, a 14-year-old boy in Australia, and another 10-year-old girl in Pennsylvania named Nylah Anderson.Īccording to The Washington Post, Taiwanna Anderson filed a lawsuit against TikTok in May 2021.

The parents of both girls allege that TikTok had “specifically curated and determined that these blackout challenge videos… are appropriate and fitting for small children.” The lawsuit in question was filed on June 30, 2022, by the parents of eight-year-old Lalani Walton of Temple, Texas, and nine-year-old Arriani Arroyo of Milwaukee - both of whom died last year while attempting to do the blackout challenge. Parents are suing TikTok and its parent company ByteDance to hold the platform accountable for their children’s deaths as a result of the blackout challenge going viral on the app.

They don’t always rely on their friends to act as safeguards, making things especially dangerous if they become unconscious. They have their phone in hand, TikTok video playing on the screen, and the camera rolling. What makes the blackout challenge especially dangerous - and fatal - is that kids often play it by themselves in the privacy of their own bedroom. Today, it goes by the blackout challenge. The game has gone by different names since the 1930s, such as the “pass out challenge,” “space monkey,” and “flatliner.” No matter what name the game bears, it still challenges kids to choke themselves without cutting too much of the flow of oxygen to the brain in order to achieve momentary euphoria. between 19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (via TIME). The blackout challenge is reminiscent of the choking game, which killed 82 children between the ages of 6 and 19 in the U.S.

TikTok is launching a dedicated gaming channel
