The controversial app, TiK-Tok, which has been banned temporarily a few times in some countries for hosting content related to child pornography and circulating life-threatening challenges, is once again accused of publicizing another dangerous stunt, called Skull Breaker Challenge, which apparently has bewitched many youngsters.
Also called The Tripping Challenge, it involves three people standing side by side. When the middle person jumps up, the other two attempt to kick out the jumper’s legs causing them to land on their back. The challenge is to make the falling person’s head hit the floor and hence the name ‘skull breaker’.
According to media reports, quite a few teenagers have fallen prey to this new trend and parents are understandable worried, as there have been many serious injuries reported from various parts of the world. Health experts warn that this is a dangerous trend that could lead to serious injuries to the head and spine; police in some countries are also warning participants that they could face jail time for engaging in this activity.
Tik Tok allows users to stream 15-second videos that mostly feature humor, music and dance moves, but it has also faced accusations of spreading pornography among children, many of them underage. But it is for circulating ridiculously dangerous challenges that it has gathered followers, including the ‘Penny Challenge’ that had the potential to cause fire and electric shock to participants, and another disgusting one called ‘Cereal Challenge’ that involved using the mouth of one person as a bowl for another person to feed from. And then, there was the life threatening KiKi challenge that required jumping out from a moving car and dancing in the middle of the road.
Tik Tok is a fast-growing social media platform and the allure of becoming famous as an influencer encourages teenagers to try the most stupid and dangerous challenges to create videos and upload them to gain more followers. It is important for parents and teachers to advise children against the potential harm of these challenges and to keep a watch over youngsters who blindly follow trends.
TikTok like any other social media platform feigns ignorance of these activities on its site and says their community guidelines “do not allow content that encourages, promotes or glorifies dangerous challenges that might lead to injury. We will remove any such reported content,” says TikTok. The key word here, as with many other social media platforms accused of egregious behaviour, is reported content. Apparently, it is only after parents or civil society reports an activity that the site becomes aware of dangerous behavior on its platform.
