9-year-old US boy’s family blames Tiktok for his death

Nashville: The family of a nine-year-old boy found their son dead in his bedroom last week, and blames a TikTok strangulation challenge as a reason for the tragedy. The obituary for LaTerius Smith Jr. noted that he passed away in Memphis, Tennessee, on June 10. LaTerius, known by his family as ‘TJ’, would have turned 10 years old at the end of this month.

‘To see that baby laying in that casket hasn’t even had an opportunity to grow up,’ LaTerius’ great-great-aunt Barbara Williams told the media. ‘You know, his life has ended because of some people putting stupid things on various sites.’

HEARTBREAKING: Family believes a social media challenge that involves strangulation led to the death of nine-year-old LaTerius Smith Jr. Tonight his relatives urge parents to monitor their children’s social media and what they do online. Their story at 5 @3onyourside pic.twitter.com/rX2JwbsOAp

— Shay Arthur (@ShayA_WREG3) June 18, 2021

According to the media report, the boy’s family member said that they found  LaTerius unresponsive in his bedroom with a belt around his neck. The young boy was said to be hurried to a local hospital, but he died due to his injuries.

Williams told the outlet, ‘It wasn’t until later on that we found out there was some type of video on TikTok, you know, letting kids know how to strangle yourself. But you got to get out of it, the challenge was to get out of it. But he’s nine years old, he’s nine years old, so how was he going to get out of it?’

In the last few years, dangerous trends like the ‘pass out challenge’ have spread on social media apps, that encourage people to choke themselves until they pass out for several seconds, which is meant to stimulate a high.

In January, a 10-year-old Italian girl unexpectedly died while competing in the ‘blackout’ challenge. In May, a 13-year-old girl was hospitalized in Oregon with severe third-degree burns to her body while recreating a TikTok using rubbing alcohol and a lighter.

A representative for TikTok did not instantly reply to the media’s request for comment. TikTok’s community guidelines prevent ‘content that depicts, promotes, normalizes, or glorifies such behavior, including amateur stunts or dangerous challenges.’

LaTerius’ family told the media that they wanted to inspire other parents and families to observe their children’s social media usage, block sites when required, and educate themselves with regards to what the children are presented while online. ‘I know you can’t watch them 24 hours, but that in which you can do, you just have to save a life,’ Williams told the media.