Italian prosecutors opened an investigation into the accidental death of a 10-year-old girl who allegedly participated in a “blackout challenge” on the video sharing network TikTok.
The investigation came when Italy announced that it had temporarily blocked access to TikTok for users whose age could not be definitively proven.
According to the TikTok terms and conditions, users must be at least 13 years old.
The girl died in a Palermo hospital after being discovered on Wednesday by her five-year-old sister in the family bathroom with her cell phone, which was seized by the police.
TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, said on Friday that it was unable to identify any content on its website that could have encouraged the girl to participate in any challenge, but was helping authorities in investigating a possible “incitement to suicide”.
“The safety of the TikTok community is our top priority, which is why we don’t allow any content that encourages, promotes or glorifies behaviors that could be dangerous,” said a TikTok spokesman.
The Italian Data Protection Authority said in a statement on Friday that it would “block the (Chinese) social media network” with immediate effect until February 15, when the network would have to meet the regulator’s demands.
Medical experts warned of the danger of the challenge being taken up by some young people, who refer to it as a “scarf” or “choking game”, in which the restriction of oxygen to the brain results in high.
The girl’s parents told the newspaper La Repubblica that another daughter explained that her sister “was playing blackout”.
“We didn’t know anything,” the girl’s father told the newspaper.
“We didn’t know that she was playing this game. We knew that (our daughter) went to TikTok to dance, watch videos. How could I imagine this atrocity? ” he said.
Italy’s data protection agency filed a lawsuit against TikTok in December, alleging a “lack of attention to the protection of minors” and criticizing the ease with which very young children can sign up for the video application.
TikTok, which went global in 2018, built its rapid success with parodies, messages and short performances of dance or video comedy with popular music – along with an algorithm that determines which content is most likely to interest each user.
The young woman’s death provoked strong reactions in Italy and calls for better regulation of social networks.
“Social media cannot become a jungle where everything is allowed,” said Licia Ronzulli, chairman of Italy’s Parliamentary Child Protection Commission.