US court rules TikTok must face lawsuit over 10-year-old girl’s death

(Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court has revived a lawsuit against TikTok by the mother of a 10-year-old girl who died after participating in a viral “blackout challenge.” In this challenge, users were dared to choke themselves until they passed out. The decision marks a significant development in how internet companies may be held accountable for content promoted through their platforms.

The Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that federal law, which usually protects internet companies from lawsuits over user-generated content, does not prevent Nylah Anderson’s mother from pursuing claims against TikTok. It was alleged that TikTok’s algorithm recommended the fatal challenge to her daughter.

U.S. Circuit Judge Patty Shwartz, writing for the three-judge panel, stated that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 only shields information provided by third parties. She emphasized that it does not cover recommendations generated by TikTok’s algorithm. This ruling diverges from previous court decisions which generally held that Section 230 offers immunity to online platforms failing to prevent harmful user messages.

Judge Shwartz noted that this change in interpretation followed a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in July, which ruled on whether state laws that attempt to limit the power of social media platforms to censor content violate free speech rights. The Supreme Court found that a platform’s algorithm reflects “editorial judgments” in compiling third-party content as it wishes, thus rendering algorithmic recommendations as the company’s own speech, unprotected by Section 230.

“TikTok makes choices about the content recommended and promoted to specific users, and by doing so, is engaged in its own first-party speech,” Shwartz wrote.

TikTok has yet to comment on the court’s decision.

The new ruling overturns a prior decision by a lower-court judge, who dismissed the case based on Section 230. Tawainna Anderson sued TikTok and its parent company ByteDance after her daughter, Nylah, died in 2021 from attempting the blackout challenge using a purse strap hung in her mother’s closet.

Jeffrey Goodman, the mother’s lawyer, remarked, “Big Tech just lost its ‘get-out-of-jail-free card’.” He believes this ruling signals a shift in holding tech companies accountable for the content they recommend and promote.

U.S. Circuit Judge Paul Matey, in a partially concurring opinion, criticized TikTok’s prioritization of profits over user safety. He opined that while TikTok may opt to serve children content that appeals to “the basest tastes” and “lowest virtues,” it cannot claim immunity that Congress did not provide.