Dangerous and deadly TikTok trends popping up in Texas, San Antonio
SAN ANTONIO - Some TikTok trends are funny, some are odd, and now we are finding out that some are dangerous.
Local officials are warning the public of dangerous TikTok.
One has led to the deaths of several children including a child here in Texas and some are even targeting random people on the streets of San Antonio.
A man said someone drove by his house and shot airsoft water pellets at his wife, bruising her arm.
"It goes beyond being just ill advised," Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said. "It's just flat out stupid."
Monday four teens were arrested for shooting these water bead blasters at random people.
"As far back as there's been there have been used, there have been silly challenges," Salazar said. "Now, though, it's exacerbated so much so by the fact that, that on tick tock, everybody wants to be the next tick tock sensation"
But that trend is just the tip of the iceberg - officials say posts here can have real world consequences.
"The blackout challenge is, is actively promoted through the algorithms on TikTok, and it encourages young people to choke themselves," Matthew Bergman, founder of Social Media Victims Law Center, said.
The blackout challenge has led to the deaths of numerous teens across the nation.
Including Lalani Erika Walton - an 8-year-old from temple, TX, who was found dead after attempting the challenge.
"Lalani was a beautiful little eight year old girl. She loved music. She loved to dance, she loved to dress up," Bregman said. "She thought saw Tik Tok as a way to make her famous"
Bergman and his firm are representing Walton in a lawsuit against Tiktok.
He says TikTok needs to be accountable and that parents need to stay active in what their kids are doing on social media.
"Parents clearly have responsibility to monitor what their kids do," He said. "But these products are explicitly designed to thwart parental authority"
We reached out to TikTok for a statement today, they gave us this and these materials.
"Our policies focus on our commitment to the safety of minors, and we offer a robust set of recommendations to offer a safe user experience, including our Family Pairing features and our new Guardian's Guide to TikTok.
We also aim to provide parents with resources they can use to have conversations about digital safety and decide the most comfortable experience for their family.
As outlined in our Community Guidelines we remove content that "depicts or promotes physical abuse, neglect, endangerment, or psychological disparagement of minors."
If we were to become aware of content that exploited or endangered minors, it would be a violation of our policies and we would remove the content."
