TikTok fined for $10M in Venezuela for deaths of children from viral challenges

Venezuela’s Supreme Court has issued a $10 million fine against TikTok for failing to implement measures to prevent viral video challenges that have led to the deaths of three children.

According to judge Tania D’Amelio, TikTok is responsible for the deaths of three children in November. A 12 year old girl participated in a challenge in which she had to take tranquilizer pills and not fall asleep, but eventually died.

Around the same time a 14 year old kid died after taking part in a TikTok video challenge in which he had to sniff substances. And shortly after Venezuela’s Attorney General blamed the video challenges on TikTok for the death of a third child.

Venezuelan authorities claim that numerous other young people became intoxicated at various schools, but didn’t offer any details or referred to specific cases. It remains unclear what kind of challenges the participants had to endure.

According to CNN, the Supreme Court ruled that TikTok failed to implement “the necessary and adequate measures to prevent the dissemination of publications whose content is allusive to the so-called viral challenges, violating the legal system in Venezuela”.

D’Amelio has given TikTok eight days to pay a fine of $10 million to the National Communications Commission (Conatel). The money will go to a fund to compensate victims of viral video challenges.

TikTok hasn’t responded to the verdict.

This isn’t the first time Venezuela has taken action against social media. In August, the government banned social media platform X for ten days. Re-elected president Nicolas Maduro accused Elon Musk of using his platform to “orchestrate attacks against Venezuela”.

At the moment, X is only accessible in Venezuela via private run internet service providers in the country. Venezuela’s state-owned internet provider Movilnet is still blocking the social media platform.