Ask what they watch, who they talk to, what inspires them. Be present. Don’t assume: ‘My child would never do that.’ The online world can be as dangerous as the real one — sometimes even more so,” she wrote.
“Let [Sebastian’s death] be a quiet call for awareness — a reminder to stay close, to talk more, to protect the ones we love. So that other children may live. So that no other parent has to experience this unimaginable pain,” Czerniejewska added. “Sebastian will remain in our hearts forever.”
The 12-year-old’s death comes just months after the parents of four British teenagers filed a lawsuit in the U.S. against TikTok over the deaths of their children, alleging that their deaths occurred because of the blackout challenge.
According to The Guardian, the lawsuit, filed in February, claimed Isaac Kenevan, 13, Archie Battersbee, 12, Julian “Jools” Sweeney, 14, and Maia Walsh, 13, died in 2022 while attempting the challenge.
“TikTok’s algorithm purposely targeted these children with dangerous content to increase their engagement time on the platform and drive revenue. It was a clear and deliberate business decision by TikTok that cost these four children their lives,” an attorney from the Social Media Victims Law Center said at the time.
TikTok previously said that searches for videos or hashtags related to the challenge have been blocked since 2020. The video platform’s content guidelines state that it prohibits dangerous content or challenges, aims to remove them as soon as possible and directs users that search for this content to safety information and other resources.
