What is the TikTok scarf challenge? 16-year-old dies in France after taking part in deadly trend

A 16-year-old girl in France died in May 2023 while attempting a TikTok stunt called "Jeu de Foulard," or scarf game. The game is one of the platform’s deadly blackout challenges that has already claimed several young lives last year.

Trigger Warning: This article contains graphic mentions of suicide as part of an online challenge. Reader's discretion is advised.

According to reports, Christy Sibali Dominique Gloire Gassaille, a native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who was residing in France, was at home when she took part in the deadly challenge and died on May 27. She was buried on June 7 near her home in Orléans, at the Fleury-les-Aubrais cemetery.

In the scarf game, players fasten a piece of cloth around their necks to asphyxiate themselves until they pass out. As with the other blackout stunts, this pursuit can restrict the flow of oxygen to the brain, ultimately causing seizures, unconsciousness, other serious internal damages, and even death.

Many young people have attempted this stunt for internet clout and ended up with adverse outcomes. Christy Sibali, who wanted to test her ability to hold her breath for as long as possible with the scarf game, unfortunately suffocated herself to death. Her death is a continuation of a pattern spurred by these fatal choking challenges that are becoming increasingly popular on the Chinese-owned app TikTok.

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TikTok has no other record of the scarf challenge on the app

Although the 16-year-old teenager from France died attempting the scarf challenge on TikTok, there are no other videos or posts on the platform containing the stunt. Upon typing “scarf game” on the search bar on the short-video platform, the screen yielded a message saying that no results were found. It was also noted:

“This phrase may be associated with behavior or content that violates our guidelines. Promoting a safe and positive experience is TikTok’s top priority. For more information, we invite you to review our Community Guidelines.”

However, there has been a report of another young death from a similar blackout challenge. In January, a 12-year-old Argentinian girl named Milagros Soto died attempting this stunt with a makeshift noose. Her attempt was reportedly caught on camera.

While it was unclear as to why Milagros Soto took part in the challenge, her aunt claimed that the teen had received a link to the challenge on WhatsApp after she was bullied at school. The teen’s bereaved aunt said:

“I believe someone encouraged her to do it. She suffered a lot with bullying.”

A spokesperson for the school that Milagros had attended described the teen as a great student and a good, sweet, and kind friend. The spokesperson also added:

“We support our student’s family in this terrible moment.”

Last summer, 14-year-old Leon Brown and 12-year-old Archie Battersbee from the UK allegedly died attempting similar challenges of holding their breaths until passing out.

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Lawsuit against TikTok for deaths of young girls from blackout challenge

In the United States, the China-owned social media platform is facing lawsuits for wrongful death after two girls from California allegedly suffocated themselves to death after watching videos on blackout challenges on the app. The incidents took place last year in July. The lawsuit reads:

“TikTok has invested billions of dollars to intentionally design and develop its product to encourage, enable and push content to teens and children that defendant knows to be problematic and highly detrimental to its minor users’ mental health.”

However, representatives of the streaming platform have denied responsibility and accountability for the deaths. They claimed that the injuries sustained by young people from the alleged choking game existed long before the viral blackout challenges.