The Viral Blackout Challenge Is Killing Young People. Courts Are Finally Taking It Seriously.

Rarely will you read about a case with more heartbreaking facts. In 2021, a 10-year-old girl named Nylah Anderson was viewing videos on TikTok, as millions of people do every day, when the app’s algorithm served up a video of the so-called blackout challenge on its “For You Page.” The page suggests videos for users to watch. The blackout challenge encourages users to record themselves as they engage in self-asphyxiation, sometimes to the point of unconsciousness. Nylah saw the challenge, tried it herself and died. She accidentally hung herself.

The case is horrific and beyond devastating for her family, but it might also lead to meaningful legal reform. Thanks to a key court of appeals ruling, we may be on the verge of imposing some constitutional common sense on America’s social media giants. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia, held that TikTok could be potentially liable for its own actions if it contributed to Nylah’s death, specifically the act of suggesting the video to her, even though she did not ask to see it.

At the heart of the legal dispute is a single question: Who is responsible for Nylah’s death? Blaming a 10-year-old is absurd. She was hardly able to understand the risk. Should we blame the person who created the video that she watched? Certainly. An offline analogy might be useful. Imagine that a person walked up to Nylah at school and suggested that she asphyxiate herself. We’d immediately recognize their culpability.

But does TikTok have any responsibility? After all, it not only hosted the video. According to the claims in the legal complaint Nylah’s mother filed, TikTok’s algorithm repeatedly put dangerous challenges on Nylah’s For You Page. To continue with the offline analogy, imagine if an adult walked up to Nylah after school and said, “I know you, and I know you’ll like this video,” and then showed her a blackout challenge performed by somebody else.

In that circumstance, wouldn’t we hold the adult who presented the video to Nylah even more responsible than the person who actually made the video? The very fact that the recommendation came from an adult may well make Nylah more susceptible to the video’s message.

Arguably, the algorithmic suggestion is even more powerful than an in-person suggestion. Kids often watch TikTok videos alone in their rooms, where there is no other adult who can immediately intervene and warn them away from obviously reckless conduct.