(RepublicanInformer.com)- A 14-year-old Scottish boy died last month after attempting the latest trending TikTok “challenge.”
On August 25, Leon Brown, 14, was found by his mother lying unresponsive in his bedroom after he tried to replicate a choking game he saw on TikTok while his friends watched on Facetime.
The so-called “Blackout Challenge” encourages users to restrict the flow of oxygen to the brain until they go unconscious. However, doing so can cause seizures, serious injury, or even death.
The same challenge is believed to have caused the July death of a 12-year-old boy in Essex. Archie Battersbee was also found unconscious before being declared brain dead. He died after his family lost its legal battle with the Royal London Hospital to keep Archie on life support.
Leon’s mother, Lauryn Keating, told the Scottish outlet the Daily Record that one of the boys who watched on Facetime told her they thought Leon would wake up but “it went horribly wrong.”
The TikTok “Blackout Challenge” is also believed to have taken the lives of two American children, 10-year-old Nyla Anderson and 12-year-old Joshua Haileyesus.
After Leon Brown’s death, TikTok offered its condolences to his family. In its statement, TikTok asserted that the safety of its users “is our priority” and the company takes any claim about the “Blackout Challenge” seriously.
TikTok said that it has removed videos featuring the “Blackout Challenge” from its platform and has prevented users from sharing the videos or searching for the trend.
But despite this, Lauryn Keating said she was able to bring up videos while doing a search on the “Blackout Challenge” and said the number of results that came up was “ridiculous.”
