A Wisconsin family is suing TikTok after their 9-year-old daughter died attempting the so-called “blackout challenge” popularized on social media.
Arriani Jaileen Arroyo died by asphyxiation on Feb. 26, 2021. Now, her family, along with the parents of 8-year-old Lalani Walton of Texas, who also died of asphyxiation by strangulation on July 15, 2021, have come together with the Social Media Victims Law Center to file a lawsuit against TikTok on behalf of their daughters.
“This is not easy, to wake up every day and know that your little girl is never coming back,” Arriani’s mother Christal Arroyo Roman told “Good Morning America” on Saturday. “You’re never gonna hear her voice, you’re never gonna see her smile or hear her say ‘I love you.'”
Arriani was everything to her family. Her mother said she was an intelligent and stylish little diva who loved doing nails, dancing, and would give the coat off her back to those she loved. Like many children across the country, she also enjoyed following social media trends, including food challenges and learning new dances. “We just never thought that there was a darker side to what TikTok allows on its platform,” Roman said.
In the wake of the two girls’ deaths, the Arroyos and Walton’s family are calling on TikTok for answers. The Arroyos told ABC News the families are speaking out in hopes of preventing other children from falling victim to the same crushing fates as their daughters.
“We just want people to be aware, because we don’t want no other children out there to be a statistic of this situation again,” Arriani’s father Heriberto Arroyo Roman said. “We want to make sure that we can save other kids.”
According to the June 30 lawsuit filed by the Social Media Victims Law Center on behalf of the families, multiple children from different states and countries died last year by asphyxiation after attempting the same “blackout challenge” — in which children choke themselves until they pass out — allegedly suggested to them on their TikTok “For You” pages.
The lawsuit specifically claims that “at all times relevant, TikTok’s algorithm was designed to promote ‘TikTok Challenges’ to young users to increase their engagement and maximize TikTok’s profits.” READ MORE
