Parents Sue TikTok, Saying Children Died After Viewing ‘Blackout Challenge’
“Elementary school children don’t have the knowledge or insight to understand that these are dangerous,” she said.
One of the girls nominated in the proceedings, Lalani Erica Walton, 8, of Temple, Texas, was described in the proceedings as a sweet, outgoing child who loves to dress up as a princess and love to make up. She wanted to be a famous rapper like Cardi B.
She got her first cell phone on her 8th birthday on April 23, 2021 and soon became “addicted” to TikTok, singing and dancing in the hope of “becoming famous for TikTok”. I posted my video to do.
Lalani began to live with her mother-in-law after being seriously injured in a car accident in which one of her brother-in-law died. Without the knowledge of her mother or her stepmom, TikTok’s algorithm “directed” Lalani to her power outage challenge in July 2021, the proceedings said.
Lalani told her family that she had a bruise on her neck on July 13, 2021 and she fell and hit the frame of the bed. Shortly thereafter, she spent part of her 20-hour car journey with her stepmother, sitting in the backseat and watching the power outage challenge.
On July 15, 2021, the proceedings stated that Lalani was found with a rope wrapped around his neck.
After her death, police picked up Lalani’s cell phone and tablet and complained to her stepmother, “Lalani did not commit suicide.” Police officers showed her stepmother a video of her power outage challenge, and Lalani repeatedly watched the video and said she was trying to challenge herself, the proceedings say.
