TikTok bans dangerous ‘Milk crate challenge’
Days after medical experts warned people not to take on the dangerous trend, TikTok has now banned from its platform the once viral "milk crate challenge."
TikTok gives life to bizarre and sometimes dangerous challenges, and recently, it saw a deluge of videos of people trying "milk crate challenge," that have seriously injured some.
The dare was simple, participants would stack plastic milk crates to form a pyramid and attempt to climb the unstable structure without falling.
Those who have seen the videos know very well that more often than not, the person who is attempting the challenge would end up in what looks like a painful fall as the stack of crates collapse, which could potentially result in serious medical injuries.
#MilkCrateChallenge pic.twitter.com/UR82kRp9qN
— Mrg80sportt18 (@YoBoiSlim) August 29, 2021
As the challenge grew more popular each day, the level of difficulty grew higher. One did the challenge on a ledge several feet high over a swimming pool, while some stacked the crates higher than usual. As participants took on the challenge, spectators were filming on their phones for what some dubbed as the “Hood Olympics.”
“TikTok prohibits content that promotes or glorifies dangerous acts, and we remove videos and redirect searches to our Community Guidelines to discourage such content. We encourage everyone to exercise caution in their behavior whether online or off,” a spokesperson for the video-sharing app said in a statement.
People doing this like they have the best health insurance... pic.twitter.com/6znbsi8h0a
— Mike ?? (@ogmike) August 21, 2021
If you try to check the hashtag #milkcratechallenge in the app, it won’t yield any video and instead will pull up a “no results found” page with a notice that says, “This phrase may be associated with behavior or content that violates guidelines. Promoting a safe and positive experience is TikTok’s top priority.”
Doctors and those in the medical field have also expressed that as an overwhelming number of COVID-19 patients are already choking many hospitals, people should avoid unnecessary trips to the emergency room, especially when these injuries or cases could be easily avoided.
Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Shawn Anthony told Today Parents that hospitals are seeing many orthopedic injuries as a result of the falls.
Man fxck the #CrateChallenge ??♂️?? pic.twitter.com/fDfqFWONuD
— Renard Smith Sr. (@SmittySpreadLuv) August 23, 2021
Anthony reiterated that the dangerous challenge poses injuries that include broken wrists, shoulder dislocations, ACL and meniscus tears, as well as life-threatening conditions like spinal cord injuries.
As of this writing, the hashtag for the challenge is still searchable on Twitter and Instagram.
The milk crate challenge joins other dangerous challenges that have been banned by TikTok, including those popular among teens—the “throw in the air” challenge in 2019, and the “skull breaker” challenge in 2020.
Participating in viral challenges are sometimes fun, but ending up in a hospital or worse, dying, definitely isn’t.
Banner and thumbnail images by Apu Gonzales/AFP