A US appeals court has revived a lawsuit against TikTok over a viral “blackout challenge” that led to the death of a 10-year-old girl.
The court ruled that TikTok’s algorithm recommending the challenge to the girl’s account makes the company liable, as it constitutes “first-party speech” not protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
The girl’s mother, Tawainna Anderson, sued TikTok and its parent company ByteDance after her daughter Nylah died in 2021 attempting the challenge.
The court’s decision reverses a lower-court judge’s dismissal of the case and allows the lawsuit to proceed.
