A lawsuit filed by the mother of a 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl who died participating in a dangerous challenge she saw on TikTok has been revived by a U.S. appeals court. The challenge dared people to choke themselves until they lost consciousness, and the court mentioned that TikTok could potentially be liable for promoting such content to children.
Judge Patty Shwartz of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court in Philadelphia stated in the opinion issued Tuesday that TikTok makes decisions about the content it recommends and promotes to users, thereby being engaged in its own first-party speech. Lawyers for TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, did not respond immediately for comment.
The challenge, known as the “blackout challenge,” was popular in 2021 and appeared on the victim, Nylah Anderson’s, “For You” feed on TikTok. Nylah was found unresponsive in her home in Chester, near Philadelphia, after attempting the challenge. Despite efforts to resuscitate her, she passed away five days later, devastating her family.
Initially, a district judge dismissed the lawsuit citing Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, a law often used to shield internet companies from liability for content posted on their platforms. However, a three-judge appeals court panel partially reversed this decision on Tuesday, sending the case back to the lower court for a trial.
Judge Paul Matey, in a partial concurrence to the opinion, emphasized that Nylah likely did not realize the fatal consequences of her actions, but TikTok was aware that she would come across the videos due to its personalized algorithm placing them on her “For You Page.”
Jeffrey Goodman, the family’s lawyer, expressed that as technology becomes more integrated into our lives, courts are increasingly scrutinizing Section 230. Goodman hopes that the court’s ruling will help prevent similar tragedies in the future, despite not being able to bring Nylah back. He emphasized that the court’s decision challenges the wide-ranging protection social media companies have been claiming under Section 230.
