TikTok sued by parents of UK teens after alleged challenge deaths

A lawsuit against Tiktok is filed by the religion of four British teenagers who believe that their children died after participating in the viral trends distributed on the video sharing platform in 2022.

The lawsuit claims that Isaac Kenfan, Archchi Batbi and Julian “Guls” Sweeny and Mia Walsh died while trying to “the challenge of obfuscation”.

The United States -based social media victims center filed an illegal death lawsuit against Tijook and its mother company, on behalf of the children’s parents on Thursday.

Sections for videos or retailers related to challenge on Tiktok are blocked.

According to the company, this mass has been in place since 2020.

Tiktok says it prohibits dangerous content or challenges on the platform, and directs those looking for retail or videos to its safety center.

The complaint was filed in the Supreme Court in Dilayer, on behalf of the mother of Holly Dance, Umm Ishaq Lisa Kenfan, Julus Ellen Room, Wad Maya, Liam Walsh’s father.

She claims that the deaths were “the expected result of addiction, the engineer with a design and programming by Betantian, which was” aimed at pushing children to maximize their association with Tijok by any necessary means. “

He accuses the existence of “creating harmful dependencies in every child” through its design and “overwhelming it with an endless stream of damage.”

“These damages that children have seen or wanted to see when they started using Tactok,” she claimed.

Ellen Rom, who believes her 14 -year -old son Gouls, died after participating in an online challenge, sought to obtain data from Tiktok, which could provide clarity about his death.

It was a campaign for the “Guls Law”, This will allow parents to reach social media accounts for their children if they die. It was discussed in Parliament on January 13, 2025.

“Parents need to be aware of the dangers of social media,” she told the BBC.

“I thought Tiktok was ridiculous dances and ridiculous challenges such as standing on your hands and putting your shirt on top of his head – I faced many of these challenges – because we thought it was fun.

“This is not so – there are some harmful substances there, and I think parents need to be aware, and if possible, their children show them their phones.”

She said she believed that it is “morally wrong” that Tikhak will not allow her to reach her son’s social media account.

“[TikTok] “Here’s the bereaved parents, I hope you get some answers,” she said.

“It takes us to go to the court in an attempt to do so, and I think this is a moral mistake.”

Leanda Barrington-Leach, CEO of Group 5rights Campaign, claimed that this is “the horrific consequences of technology companies that define profits over children’s lives.”

The lawsuit comes to families as question marks hanging on the future of Tiktok in the United States.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January to extend the deadline for submitting the application in the country unless it is sold to another company.

In January 2024, the Criminal Investigation Judge concluded that the Holly Dancing son died at the age of 12. After a “joke or experience” was mistaken at their home in Southind On C in April 2022 – He said there was no evidence that he was an online challenge at the time, as his mother believes.

MS Dance, along with Lisa Kenfan, a 13 -year -old mother, tried to raise awareness level About the possible social media trends in the wake of the death of their children.

Lisa Kenfan described it, I talked about Isaac in breakfast in May, as a “happy, normal” boy who “wanted to take care of his mother and father.”

She said he was a “very curious and very intelligent child” who wanted to understand how things work – which led him to try to challenge blackout.

It is one of the many viral social media trends that have Warnings from schools and experts about their risks.

Tiktok said in 2021 it would enhance Discover and enforce rules on dangerous challenges onlineAnd according to what was reported, some searches were prevented from a blackout challenge.

However, she faced a number of lawsuits and accusations from the parents of the deceased children who claim to be recommended by harmful content for them.

The Center for the Social media victims center helped Tenna Anderson filed a lawsuit on the platform in 2022 after her 10 -year -old daughter Nayla died after she participated in a blackout challenge.

The US Court of Appeal canceled the dismissal of the minimum court for its case in August 2024.