ResearchBuzz: FirehoseLos Angeles Times: ‘Speed running’ Scientology: TikTok trend causes havoc, church alleges ‘hate crimes’. “For weeks, groups of people have barged into two of the church’s Hollywood properties, racing through hallways and tussling with security guards, trying to see how far they can get before they are forced to leave by church staff. They call it ‘speed running,’ slang for trying to beat a […]
https://rbfirehose.com/2026/05/01/speed-running-scientology-tiktok-trend-causes-havoc-church-alleges-hate-crimes-los-angeles-times/
MediaPost: Parents Fight To Reinstate ‘Choking Challenge’ Suit Against Google, TikTok. “A group of parents are urging a federal appellate court to revive a lawsuit alleging that Google and TikTok wrongly failed to remove potentially dangerous content, including ‘choking challenge’ videos that depict people strangling themselves until they pass out.”
https://rbfirehose.com/2026/04/30/mediapost-parents-fight-to-reinstate-choking-challenge-suit-against-google-tiktok/
MediaPost: Google And TikTok Face Appeal In Suit Over ‘Choking Challenge’ Videos. “Parents who unsuccessfully sued Google and TikTok over ‘choking videos’ and other potentially harmful content are appealing a judge’s ruling dismissing the lawsuit. The families initiated the appeal Monday, but haven’t yet filed substantive arguments with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.”
https://rbfirehose.com/2026/01/13/mediapost-google-and-tiktok-face-appeal-in-suit-over-choking-challenge-videos/
People: Tourist Critically Injured After Leaning Out of Train While Doing Social Media Stunt: Reports. “Photos of the woman shared on social media showed her leaning out of the train car, and later lying down on a stretcher. She appeared to be taking part in a new social media trend where people take photos and videos of themselves hanging off of the side of trains in Sri Lanka.”
KTLA: Family says Inland Empire boy died from dangerous social media challenge. “A Southern California couple is mourning the death of their young son after they say he died from a dangerous social media challenge. Nnamdi Ohaeri, Jr. known by friends and family as ‘Deuce,’ was just 13 years old.”
BBC: Parents suing TikTok over children’s deaths say it ‘has no compassion’. “The lawsuit, filed in the US on Thursday, claims that Isaac Kenevan, 13, Archie Battersbee, 12, Julian ‘Jools’ Sweeney, 14, and Maia Walsh, 13, died while attempting the so-called ‘blackout challenge’.”
Voice of America: Venezuela fines TikTok $10 million over viral challenge deaths. “Venezuela’s highest court Monday fined TikTok $10 million in connection with viral challenges that authorities say left three adolescents dead from intoxication by chemical substances.”
Hackaday: Release Your Inner Ansel Adams With The Shitty Camera Challenge. “The premise is simple: take photographs with a shitty camera, and share them online. The promise meanwhile is to free photography from kit acquisition, and instead celebrate the cheap, the awful, the weird, and the wonderful in persuading these photographic nonentities to deliver beautiful pictures.”
The Conversation: The ‘choking game’ and other challenges amplified by social media can come with deadly consequences. “The ‘choking game’ has potentially deadly consequences, as players are challenged to temporarily strangle themselves by restricting oxygen to the brain. It sounds terrifying, but rough estimates suggest that about 10% of U.S. teenagers may have played this type of game […]
Alameda PostThe APD has issued a warning for Alameda parents about a social media challenge that may be leading kids and teens to shoot strangers with toy guns while filming. “We are asking parents to have thoughtful conversations with their children," says the APD.
