Judge Clears TikTok of Liability in Child’s Strangulation Death

TikTok is immune from liability for the death of a 10-year-old girl who strangled herself after watching a “Blackout Challenge” on the social media app, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, citing Communications Decency Act Section 230. Tawainna Anderson sued the platform, claiming it was responsible for the death of her daughter, Nylah. The circumstances are “tragic,” but because Anderson sought to hold TikTok liable as a publisher of third-party content, the platform is immune under Section 230, Judge Paul Diamond wrote in his memo, granting TikTok’s motion to dismiss on “immunity grounds.” TikTok didn’t create the challenge but only made it “readily available” on its app, Diamond wrote: TikTok’s algorithm was a “way to bring the challenge to the attention of those likely to be most interested in it.” Section 230 protects the platform for publishing others’ works, he said: “The wisdom of conferring such immunity is something properly taken up with Congress, not the courts.” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr drew attention to the case, tweeting TikTok used Nylah’s personal information to serve her the blackout challenge video encouraging users to strangle themselves: “She did that with a purse strap & dies. Court accepts all this as true & rules that § 230 shields TikTok from liability.”