PARENTS are being warned about a potentially deadly social-media craze where children throttle each other until they either submit or pass out.
A number of schools have sent out warnings about the so-called “Tap Out” challenge, which is often filmed and posted on TikTok.
A report in 2022 linked the craze to 15 deaths globally in children aged 12 and under and five in those aged 13 and 14.
No one has died in Jersey but one teenager was treated at the Hospital earlier this year.
In a note to parents seen by the JEP, one school warned: “We continue to see children across our island, both at primary and secondary school, taking part in a TikTok craze called ‘Tap Out’.
“Children are describing it as a game, but it has severe potential consequences. A child is strangled by another child and taps out if they have had too much or alternatively doesn’t tap out and they keep going until they faint.
“The body is effectively starved of oxygen, and it can lead to serious consequences.”
The tap-out challenge has been linked to other TikTok crazes called the “choking challenge” and the “blackout challenge” which encourage users to hold their breath until they pass out.
In 2022, one parent sued TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, after her daughter died but the case was dismissed.
The warning comes amid growing pressure on the Island’s Education Department to ban or severely restrict mobile phones in schools.
In June, Education Minister Rob Ward said that the department was considering a blanket ban on mobile phones in schools following the introduction of a similar law in France.
He said that most Jersey secondary schools have strict phone policies in place and that many have been phone free during the day for years.
In December 2023, a UK think-tank, Policy Exchange, revealed that 52% of schools banned phones during the school day and 36% had a partial ban. In the case of a full ban, students were allowed to keep their phones with them but not use them.
