UK man arrested after 11-year-old dies from TikTok challenge during sleepover at friend's home, police say



Police say a man has been arrested in connection to the death of an 11-year-old boy during a sleepover where he reportedly participated in a dangerous TikTok challenge, according to his family.

Tommy-lee Gracie Billington lost consciousness after inhaling toxic substances and was transported to a hospital, where he later died in March.

'It is beyond me why anyone would even try this. It's so dangerous.'

Three months later, Lancashire Police announced that they had arrested a 25-year-old man on from Lancaster suspicion of a slew of charges.

Billington was believed to have died as a result of participating in a TikTok challenge known as "chroming" during which children are encouraged to inhale toxic chemicals in order to create a high comparable to drunkenness. The chemicals used include solvents, aerosols, paint, or cleaning products.

The boy died officially from cardiac arrest.

The boy's grandmother Tina Burns had released information about his death to the media.

"He had a heart of gold just like his dad. Our family is utterly devastated," said Burns. "He died instantly after a sleepover at a friend's house."

She said the hospital staff did everything they could to revive him but were unsuccessful.

"Both our families are utterly devastated but we all want the same thing," Burns added. "We don't want any other children to follow TikTok or be on social media."

Burns also said that she had gotten messages from other parents who said they were grateful to learn about the dangerous social media challenges.

'Please talk to your children about the consequences of this.'

The boy's mother, Sherri, also tried to raise awareness about the dangers of TikTok challenges in a heartfelt message on Facebook.

"As much as I hate talking about it, I need to raise awareness of what kids are trying nowadays," she wrote. "It is beyond me why anyone would even try this. It's so dangerous."

TikTok has said that it has removed posts from the platform that encourage chroming and other challenges.

"Tommie had stayed over at a friends and was inhaling this with his friend which cost him his poor, young life," she continued. "Please talk to your children about the consequences of this, I have no idea how this even came about for children to try."

In addition to the man arrested, a 35-year-old woman was voluntarily questioned over allegations related to possession with intent to supply.

The man was arrested on suspicion of child cruelty, neglect, possession with intent to supply a drug, and money laundering. He was released on bail while the investigation continued.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Milwaukee family sues TikTok over death of 9-year-old who attempted the 'Blackout Challenge'



A couple in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is suing TikTok after their 9-year-old daughter died from performing the TikTok challenge known as "Blackout."

Arriani Arroyo died in February after trying the dangerous social media challenge in which people voluntarily chokes themselves until they pass out.

Matt Berman of the Social Media Victims Loss Center is the attorney for the family and another family from Texas who suffered the same fate.

"It’s the contention of the family that TikTok knew, or should’ve known, that its algorithm was leading children down this horrible path and didn't do anything about it because their goal was to maximize user engagement over above having a safe product," said Berman to WDJT-TV.

"They have specifically designed the algorithms to take advantage of the fact that children's brains aren't fully developed and they're highly susceptible to addictive content," Berman added.

TikTok would not comment due to the ongoing litigation, but representatives from the company referred back to a previous statement about the dangerous challenges.

“This disturbing ‘challenge,’ which people seem to learn about from sources other than TikTok, long predates our platform and has never been a TikTok trend," said a spokesperson for the company. "We remain vigilant in our commitment to user safety and would immediately remove related content if found. Our deepest sympathies go out to the family for their tragic loss.”

The parents issued a warning to other parents whose children may be on social media.

"Her parents are asking all parents to remain vigilant about what your children are being exposed to while using social media apps such as TikTok. There are people who use the internet to spread dangerous challenges and trends that anyone at any age can access," they wrote in part on a GoFundMe account.

"These apps start with harmless trends but there is an undercurrent of malice being spread into these apps," they added. "As parents we do everything that we can to protect our children and shelter them from harm, but we must work together as a community and world to ensure that our future generations are safe and secure."

Here's a news report about the lawsuit:

Milwaukee 9-year-old dies attempting 'blackout' challenge | GMAwww.youtube.com

Family says their 10-year-old boy died from attempting a dangerous TikTok challenge



A family is grieving the loss of a 10-year-old boy they say loved to make videos for the TikTok social media app, but died attempting to perform a dangerous challenge in the popular app.

The family of 10-year-old Robert Craig in Floyd County, Georgia, warned other parents to monitor their social media use after he was found by his sister hanging from a tree in their front yard.

"I walked outside, I saw his tablet and I saw him hanging from the tree. I ran over and got him down," said Madison, the boy's 12-year-old sister, to WGCL-TV.

"I called 911 and tried to do CPR on him," she added.

The boy later died at a hospital.

The family said Robert was born with only one eye and he had experienced some bullying at school over his disability.

The Floyd County Police Department told WGCL only that they were still investigating the incident, but the family said that they were told investigators didn't believe it was a suicide.

"They said they don't believe it was a suicide because he was a happy child and after looking at his TikTok it could have been a TikTok challenge," Madison continued.

The family says the investigators reviewed what was on Robert's tablet and indicated that it might have showed that he was attempting to record the "blackout challenge" on TikTok.

In July, a 12-year-old in Oklahoma died after reportedly trying the same challenge. He was found unconscious in the breezeway of an apartment building with ligature marks on his neck.

"It all basically comes down to is where a kid tries to asphyxiate themselves to the point of unconsciousness, and then once they start to gain their consciousness back is when they get a euphoria-like feeling," said Bethany Police Lt. Angelo Orefice to KOCO-TV at the time.

Here's a local news story about the horrendous incident:

Family says child died after TikTok Challengewww.youtube.com

12-year-old Oklahoma boy died from attempting a dangerous TikTok challenge, police say



Oklahoma police say a 12-year-old boy died on Monday after attempting a dangerous social media challenge from TikTok.

Police found the boy unconscious in the breezeway of the Western Oaks Apartments in the city of Bethany after midnight on Monday.

"When they got on scene, the first initial officer located the juvenile who was unresponsive," said Bethany police Lt. Angelo Orefice to KOKO-TV.

"He wasn't breathing and [the officer] noticed that he had ligature marks around his neck," he explained.

The child was rushed to Oklahoma Children's Hospital and later pronounced dead.

Police believe that the boy passed out after attempting the "black out" challenge that has been popularized on social media platforms like TikTok.

"I can't talk in specifics, but it has led investigators to believe that this wasn't a suicide attempt but just an accident based on a social media TikTok-type challenge," Orefice said.

"It all basically comes down to is where a kid tries to asphyxiate themselves to the point of unconsciousness, and then once they start to gain their consciousness back is when they get a euphoria-like feeling," he added.

Law enforcement officials have warned parents about the dangers of children being left without supervision on social media. In a separate incident in May, a 13-year-old girl suffered severe burns to her arms and neck while attempting a stunt she saw on social media involving fire. Another dangerous TikTok challenge involved causing a spark to shoot from electrical sockets.

A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement to the New York Post that such challenges are against their guidelines.

"As we make clear in our Community Guidelines, we do not allow content that encourages, promotes, or glorifies dangerous challenges that might lead to injury, and we remove reported behavior or activity that violates our guidelines," the statement read.

Lt. Orefice concluded that more parental guidance is needed.

"Kids are bored, and they're trying new things," he said. "And parents really have to start watching their social media."

Here's a local news report about the lethal incident:

Police warn parents of deadly TikTok challenge following Bethany boy's deathwww.youtube.com