Dec 01, 2022 20:00:00

TikTok's 'fainting challenge' epidemic kills more than 15 children under the age of 12 in a year and a half, why can't users under the age of 13 be excluded?

Many users post various videos on TikTok, which is very popular among young people, but sometimes very dangerous challenge videos such as the ``

skull crushing challenge '' that knocks defenseless opponents from their heads to the ground are popular. is considered a problem. Overseas media Bloomberg reports that at least 15 children under the age of 12 have died in the past 18 months by challenging the `` Blackout Challenge '' that deliberately suffocates and faints on TikTok. I'm here.

'Blackout Challenge' on TikTok Is Luring Young Kids to Death - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-11-30/is-tiktok-responsible-if-kids-die-doing-dangerous-viral-challenges

A wide variety of “challenges” are regularly trending on TikTok, and many users post videos of themselves trying them out. Some of the challenges are strange but less harmful, such as the `` pee pants challenge '' that leaks pee while wearing pants and the challenge of giving a raw egg to a cat to see how it looks , but the `` skull crushing challenge ''. Some are extremely dangerous, such as

The craze for these challenges continues with Musical.ly , a lip-syncing app acquired by TikTok operator ByteDance and integrated in 2018 . Musical.ly has been accepting children under the age of 13 who have been kicked out of competing platforms for several years, and as of 2016 many of the top users were underage children.

Musical.ly co-founder Alex Zhu said at a public conference in 2016 that what sets Musical.ly apart from other entertainment apps is the promotion of various 'challenges' that users can take on. I am pointing out the trend. This trend was carried over to TikTok, which integrated Musical.ly, and many young people resonated during the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in 2020, and the TikTok challenge became a global trend. rice field.

Eventually, the challenges in TikTok increased in dangers such as ``climbing stacked milk crates'', ``chugging the anti-allergic drug Benadryl '', and `` destroying school equipment '', and the ``skull crushing challenge'' and ``fainting challenge''. ” appeared until the challenge with the danger of death. The fainting challenge is a euphoric challenge that intentionally drives the brain into an oxygen-deficient state by hanging, etc. According to a Bloomberg survey, at least 15 children under the age of 13 in the past 18 months had a fainting challenge. He died in an accident during that time.

A ``choking game'' similar to the fainting challenge has been practiced among young people for a long time, and according to a 2008

report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), young people aged 6 to 19 years old from 1995 to 2007 82 people are believed to have died in the choking game. However, according to a survey by Erik's Cause , a non-profit organization established by the bereaved family of the choking game, at least 33 children under the age of 13 have died from choking games since 2018, founder Judy Rogg warns that 'choking games are becoming increasingly popular on social media.'

TikTok's moderation team is also cracking down on dangerous challenges, but users avoid direct words such as `` blackout challenge '' and `` choking game '', and `` flatliner '' suggesting that it will become)” and “space monkey”, which are more difficult to detect. Also, it seems that a method of avoiding detection by daringly misspelling words is used.

Dangerous challenges, such as the fainting challenge, are especially dangerous for children who do not fully understand the risks and consequences. TikTok prohibits the use of children under the age of 13, but in fact many users under the age of 13 are using TikTok by disguising their age, and moderation has not caught up. A survey conducted in the UK found that about half of children aged 8 to 11 watch TikTok every day.

In January 2021, 10-year-old Antonella Sicomero died in Sicily, Italy, after hanging herself from a bathrobe belt, and in February, 10-year-old Arriani Arroyo was killed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He died by hanging. Both are heavy users of TikTok, and the bereaved family claims that they died in an accident while trying to play the popular 'game' on TikTok, based on the testimony of their brothers and friends. Since then, young children have continued to hang themselves around the world, with bereaved families suspecting the TikTok challenge was involved.

Most of the police investigating these cases have not publicly linked the deaths to TikTok. However, police in Clarksville, Tennessee, USA, who investigated the case of Lalani Walton, who died at the age of 8 in July 2021, said that from analysis of mobile phones, Mr. Lalani posted a ``fainting challenge'' video on TikTok the day before his death. I confirmed that I had been watching for several hours.

Multiple lawsuits have been filed against TikTok by the bereaved family in the United States, but TikTok has not admitted that the content they recommended caused the accident. In addition, it claims that the platform service is protected by Article 230 (Section 230) of the Communications Decency Act , which stipulates that the platform service is not responsible for information transmitted by third parties, and has filed a petition to dismiss the lawsuit itself. thing.

In recent years, there has been a growing movement to demand that platforms such as TikTok not only censor content, but also introduce protective measures that do not allow users under the age of 13 in the first place. The 'California Age Appropriate Design Code Act / AB-2273' passed in August 2022 in the state of California, USA, is a strict child protection system for apps and websites that are likely to be accessed by children under the age of 18. It requires protection.

As a result, it is expected that the introduction of age authentication systems using face photos will progress, and balancing privacy and child protection is a difficult task for platforms.

Danger of accelerating 'net user's face scan' by passing a bill that obliges a large number of applications and websites to protect children - GIGAZINE

In 2021, TikTok held meetings with companies such as Yoti and Hive , which provide software that estimates age from faces, but in the end they did not introduce these software. An anonymous source said TikTok, which has come under scrutiny from politicians for alleged ties to the Chinese government, will face further scrutiny by introducing a photo-based age verification system. I testified to Bloomberg that I was afraid of.

In addition, when Bloomberg sent a video of Mr. Arriani who died in Milwaukee to Hive and had his age estimated by software, he said that he was able to estimate an accurate age of '10 years old' in 3 seconds. 'The technology for estimating a child's age is definitely here,' Hive CEO Kevin Guo said. said.