Families in the United States and the United Kingdom have filed a TikTok blackout challenge lawsuit in several courts, alleging that the platform’s algorithm pushed self-strangulation videos to their children and caused their deaths. The cases accuse TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, of wrongful death, negligence, and products liability. A 2024 federal appeals court ruling found that TikTok’s algorithmic recommendations may count as the company’s own speech rather than passive hosting of user videos, which could strip away a defense the company has relied on in every case.
What the Blackout Challenge Is
The blackout challenge urges participants to choke themselves until they lose consciousness for a brief euphoric sensation. Loss of consciousness can happen in about ten seconds, and permanent brain damage can follow within four minutes of oxygen deprivation. Children typically attempt it alone, so no one is there to intervene.1Healthline. TikTok Blackout Challenge The activity itself is not new; variations have circulated for decades under names like “the choking game” and “pass out.”2Alberta.ca. General Information: Choking Game The lawsuits center on how short-form video changed the delivery: algorithms surfaced the content to children who had never searched for it.
The Anderson Case and the Third Circuit Ruling
The earliest and most legally significant case was filed by Tawainna Anderson, whose ten-year-old daughter Nylah died in December 2021 after attempting the challenge. The complaint said Nylah encountered a blackout challenge video on TikTok’s “For You Page,” the algorithmically curated feed that presents videos without any search. Anderson sued in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, bringing claims for strict products liability, negligence, wrongful death, and violations of Pennsylvania’s Survival Act.3Justia. Anderson v. TikTok Inc.
In October 2022, Judge Paul S. Diamond dismissed the case. He accepted TikTok’s argument that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shielded the company because the claims were “inextricably linked” to how its algorithm promoted third-party content, which he called a “quintessential” publisher function.4FindLaw. Anderson v. TikTok Inc.
On August 27, 2024, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed. Drawing on the Supreme Court’s July 2024 decision in Moody v. NetChoice, LLC, the appellate court held that when TikTok’s algorithm selects and ranks videos for a user’s For You Page, it is making “editorial judgments” that create an “expressive product.” That product is TikTok’s own first-party speech, the court said, not third-party content passing through a neutral pipe. Because Section 230 immunizes platforms only for content “provided by another,” it does not protect TikTok from claims based on its own decision to recommend the blackout challenge to a child. The court described the For You Page as proactive, surfacing material without any user search, which made TikTok an “affirmative promoter” of the content.3Justia. Anderson v. TikTok Inc.
The ruling acknowledged that it broke with decisions in other federal circuits that had treated algorithmic curation as a traditional editorial function covered by Section 230. The case was remanded to the district court for further proceedings.3Justia. Anderson v. TikTok Inc.
The California Case for Walton and Arroyo
On June 30, 2022, the Social Media Victims Law Center filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of two families. Lalani Erika Renee Walton, eight, of Temple, Texas, died on July 15, 2021. Arriani Jaileen Arroyo, nine, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, died on February 26, 2021. Both deaths were attributed to self-strangulation while attempting the blackout challenge.5NBC News. Parents Sue TikTok Over Deaths of Two Girls in Blackout Challenge The complaint alleged that TikTok’s algorithm determined blackout challenge videos were “appropriate and fitting for small children” and pushed the content to their For You Pages without parental warning.6Social Media Victims Law Center. Lawsuits Filed Against TikTok for Two Children’s Deaths From Blackout Challenge
The Six-Family Delaware Case
The largest blackout challenge case was filed in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware. In February 2025, the Social Media Victims Law Center brought claims on behalf of four U.K. families. The lawsuit later grew to include a fifth British family and one American family.7BusinessWire. Social Media Victims Law Center Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against TikTok8The Independent. TikTok Choking Challenge Lawsuit Delaware Britain
The children were between 11 and 17 when they died:
- Isaac Kenevan, 13, died March 9, 2022, represented by his mother, Lisa Kenevan.
- Archie Battersbee, 12, was found unresponsive April 7, 2022, and died August 6, 2022, represented by his mother, Hollie Dance.
- Julian “Jools” Sweeney, 14, died April 13, 2022, represented by his mother, Ellen Roome.
- Maia Walsh, 13, died October 6, 2022, represented by her father, Liam Walsh.
- Noah Gibson, 11, died December 9, 2021, after being found unresponsive in his bedroom by his brother, represented by his mother, Louise Gibson.
- Jaedon Bovell, 17, the sole American plaintiff, died June 2, 2020, after choking himself with a jiu-jitsu belt tied to his bunk bed; his last social media post was recorded the day before his death. He is represented by his mother, Michelle Ortiz.
7BusinessWire. Social Media Victims Law Center Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against TikTok9Law&Crime. Mom Suing TikTok After Son Strangled Himself Trying to Master the Blackout Challenge10BBC. Noah Gibson TikTok Lawsuit
The complaint alleges that TikTok “purposely targeted these children with dangerous content to increase their engagement time on the platform and drive revenue.”7BusinessWire. Social Media Victims Law Center Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against TikTok The families also accuse TikTok of misleading lawmakers by claiming the blackout challenge was never present on the platform.11The Guardian. TikTok Sued Over Deaths of Children Said to Have Attempted Blackout Challenge
One element in the Delaware lawsuit is contested. A coroner concluded in January 2024 that Archie Battersbee’s death resulted from a “prank or experiment” and found “no evidence” he was participating in an online challenge. His mother maintains TikTok bears responsibility and remains a plaintiff.12BBC. Archie Battersbee TikTok Lawsuit
TikTok has moved to dismiss the case on First Amendment and Section 230 grounds, and has also argued that a Delaware court lacks jurisdiction over claims by British families where the alleged harm occurred in the United Kingdom.13Fast Company. 6 Families Are Suing TikTok After Kids Die Doing the Blackout Challenge146abc. Families Sue TikTok Over Deaths of Children in Apparent Choking Challenge15Delaware Court Connect. Case No. N25C-02-073 PAW Docket Report
What TikTok Says
TikTok has taken a consistent position across the cases. The company says it has blocked searches for blackout challenge videos and related hashtags since 2020, prohibits content promoting dangerous acts, works to remove such material before it is reported, and redirects users who search for related terms to its safety center.11The Guardian. TikTok Sued Over Deaths of Children Said to Have Attempted Blackout Challenge A spokesperson told NBC News that “TikTok prohibits content that promotes or glorifies dangerous acts.”16NBC Miami. Parents Beware of These 5 Dangerous TikTok Challenges In the Delaware case, TikTok’s lawyers said the company proactively identifies and removes 99 percent of content that violates its policies against promoting dangerous behavior.9Law&Crime. Mom Suing TikTok After Son Strangled Himself Trying to Master the Blackout Challenge In the Delaware litigation, the company has also argued that data showing what the children viewed has likely been deleted under data privacy rules.17Sky News. These Five Parents Are Taking on TikTok Over Their Children’s Deaths
Where Section 230 Stands Now
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act generally shields internet platforms from being treated as publishers of user-created content. TikTok has invoked it in every blackout challenge case, arguing that it did not create the videos and merely hosted them.
The Third Circuit’s 2024 decision in Anderson was the first major appellate ruling to reject that defense in a blackout challenge case. By treating the For You Page’s recommendations as TikTok’s own expressive activity rather than passive display of third-party content, the court opened a path for families to sue over how platforms deliver content, not just what content exists on them.18Mother Jones. Federal Court Rules TikTok Can Be Held Liable in Blackout Challenge Death Judges in related federal multidistrict litigation and in California state coordination have also denied motions to dismiss certain design-defect and negligence claims on Section 230 grounds.19Tech Policy Press. 2024 Set to Be Crucial Year for Child Online Safety Litigation No blackout-challenge-specific case has yet reached a verdict on the merits.
Legislation the Families Are Pushing
The Delaware plaintiffs are advocating for a measure they call “Jools’ Law,” named after Julian Sweeney, which would require social media companies to preserve a child’s online data within five days of their death.20AOL News. Six Families Sue TikTok Over Kids’ Deaths
In the United States, parents of blackout challenge victims, including Todd and Mia Minor, whose son Matthew Minor died in 2019, have advocated on Capitol Hill for the Kids Online Safety Act.21Tech Policy Press. Turning Grief Into Action: Parents Leading the Charge for Kids’ Online Safety KOSA would impose a “duty of care” on social media companies and default to safer settings for minors. It passed the U.S. Senate 91 to 3 in July 2024 but was never brought to a vote in the House before the 118th Congress ended.22CBS News. Kids Online Safety Bill Passes Senate Senators Marsha Blackburn, Richard Blumenthal, John Thune, and Chuck Schumer reintroduced it on May 14, 2025, as S. 1748 in the 119th Congress, with added language clarifying that the law would not censor internet content or empower the FTC or state attorneys general to sue over speech.23Senator Blackburn. Blackburn, Blumenthal, Thune, and Schumer Introduce the Kids Online Safety Act The bill’s future remained uncertain despite broad Senate support.24EDUCAUSE Review. Senate Reintroduces Kids Online Safety Act