A 16-year-old girl in France died last month attempting the viral “scarf game” — a variation of TikTok’s deadly “blackout challenge” that has claimed several lives over the last year.
Christy Sibali Dominique Gloire Gassaille, who grew up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was reportedly at home when she tried the deadly stunt. She died May 27.
The dangerous pursuit involves fastening cloth around the neck to asphyxiate oneself until passing out for alleged internet clout.
Unfortunately, as with the “blackout challenge,” this exploit can restrict the oxygen flow to the brain, causing seizures, serious injury and even death.
Gassaille was interred June 7 at the Fleury-les-Aubrais cemetery, near her home in Orléans, France.
Gassaille’s death continues a pattern spurred by choking challenges, which have become popular on the Chinese-owned TikTok.
A TikTok search for “scarf game” on Friday, however, yielded a message of “no results found.”
“This phrase may be associated with behavior or content that violates our guidelines. Promoting a safe and positive experience is TikTok’s top priority. For more information, we invite you to review our Community Guidelines.”
In Argentina in January, 12-year-old Milagros Soto died attempting the deadly trend with a makeshift noose — a stunt that was reportedly caught on camera.
While Soto’s motivation for performing the feat is unclear, her aunt claimed that she had received a WhatsApp message with a link to the challenge after getting bullied at school.
“I believe someone encouraged her to do it,” the bereaved relative insisted. “She suffered a lot with bullying.”
The community was devastated over the preteen’s loss.
“We support our student’s family in this terrible moment,” said a spokesperson for Soto’s school, who further stated she was a “great student, friend, sweet, good and kind.”
Meanwhile, last summer, UK youths Leon Brown, 14, and Archie Battersbee, 12, allegedly died due to the same viral challenges.
In the US, TikTok is facing wrongful death lawsuits after two California girls allegedly hanged themselves to death after viewing “blackout challenge” videos on TikTok.
A popular live-streamer and influencer in China has died after gulping down copious amounts of potent liquor. His death comes days after another 34-year-old influencer also died in a similar fashion.
The influencer named Zhong Yuan Huang Ge (27 years), also known as Brother Huang to his 176,000 social media followers, died on June 2 after binging excessive amounts of Baijiu, during a viral drinking challenge. The dangerous challenge involves drinking Baijiu, a Chinese spirit with a typical alcohol content of between 30% to 60%.
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The 34-year-old influencer known as Sanqiange was found deceased 12 hours after taking part in a PK challenge, a new social media trend in which influencers compete with each other - the winner receives prizes from their viewers while the loser faces a punishment.
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The contest began at 1 a.m. on May 16 and over the course of the live stream, Sanqiange drank four bottles of Baiju. A video of the live stream went viral on Chinese social media but it has since been removed.In the video, Sanqiange could be seen seated with several bottles in front of him, consuming one after the other without stopping.
A 13-year-old boy has died after taking part in a viral TikTok trend called the Benadryl challenge. Jacob Stevens died less than a week after attempting the challenge which involves people taking large quantities of over-the-counter allergy medicine Benadryl.
It first went viral in 2020, and in that same year, people were being hospitalised after taking too many of the tablets. Those who took part in the trend were also warned that they could be putting themselves in a potentially fatal position. Some youngsters did die as a result of attempting the challenge. It led to the manufacturer of the drug, Johnson and Johnson, issuing a statement saying that the trend was “extremely concerning” and “should be stopped immediately”.
“TikTok has invested billions of dollars to intentionally design and develop its product to encourage, enable and push content to teens and children that defendant knows to be problematic and highly detrimental to its minor users’ mental health,” the lawsuit reads.
TikTok did not respond to request for comment from The Post regarding the litigation, but reps for the streaming platform have denied responsibility in similar cases.
They declared that “choking game” injuries sustained by young people long predate the “blackout challenge.”
TikTok users are encouraged to flag anybody engaging in the challenge by clicking the “report” symbol.
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