10-year-old girl died doing a TikTok choking 'challenge'. Her mother is suing the video platform

A TikTok spokesperson in response called the blackout challenge 'disturbing' but said that it 'long predates our platform and has never been a TikTok trend'. — AFP

Nylah Anderson liked to dance along to TikTok and share the platform's short videos. Then, in early December, TikTok's "Blackout Challenge," which dared people to choke themselves until they almost passed out, allegedly caught 10-year-old Nylah's attention in her personalised TikTok feed.

Nylah hung her mother's purse by strapping it to a hanger in the closet of her Chester home. She placed her head between the bag and the shoulder strap, putting pressure on her neck, according to court documents. The girl passed out before she could free herself and by the time her mother found her, Nylah was unconscious. The girl died five days later in a children's hospital.