The TikTok Choking Challenge is real, though it might not be as prolific as some sources indicate. From our investigation, videos on the TikTok Blackout Challenge are universally warning not to attempt it. However, several children have died over the last year participating in videos in which they choked themselves until they passed out. So, despite apparent efforts from the service and other users to discourage these dangerous stunts, they are being produced and posted at least sporadically.
What is the TikTok Choking Challenge and are kids really making themselves blackout?
In the TikTok Choking Challenge, the objective is to cut off your oxygen supply until you blackout momentarily. While searching directly for “blackout challenge” or “choking challenge” on TikTok will only bring up unrelated posts or warnings against trying the stunts, the algorithm could cause a video to appear in the feed of an impressionable young child.
In every fatal case we discovered, the victim used a length of rope, a belt, or an extension cord to aid in the attempt. In addition, reports show that children participating in the challenge will often try it multiple times, perhaps being egged on by commenters from previous videos.
An example of how this challenge affects children comes from The Guardian. Eight-year-old Lalani Erika Renee Walton of Temple, Texas, received a smartphone on her eighth birthday and began a TikTok account (despite the 13-year-old minimum age restriction imposed by the service). Her initial videos consisted of singing and dancing, and she hoped to get “TikTok famous.”
However, that quickly led to attempting riskier stunts, and she hoped that posting a video of herself doing the choking challenge would get her the popularity she desired. Tragically, she died on July 15, 2021, of self-asphyxiation while attempting the blackout challenge.
Unfortunately, TikTok trends tend to be cyclical. Instead of fading away like fads on other social media services do. So, even though there are incidents stretching back two years, it continues to pop up. According to the New York Post, just this week, Milagros Soto, a 12-year-old Argentinian girl, was found dead after failing to remove the rope from her neck after attempting the challenge for the third time.
Compounding things, bullying may play into why the choking challenge continues to appear on TikTok. Soto’s aunt said the girl had been introduced to it in a WhatsApp message she received after getting bullied at school. The aunt believes she may have attempted the blackout challenge because her bullies encouraged her to, and she hoped they would stop treating her poorly by successfully completing it.
The biggest issue is that in almost every case we’ve found where the TikTok choking challenge claimed a life, the victim was under 13. So, the solution here is obvious. Parents need to stop letting children break the terms of service, and TikTok needs to do more to enforce it.
