Govt Orders TikTok, Youtube, Facebook To Take Down Skull Breaker Videos: What Is The Reason?

Many challenges have gone viral since the dawn of Internet like the Mannequin Challenge, Cinnamon Challenge, Tide pod Challenge, Blue Whale Challenge and so on. Some are fun but some are downright dangerous and fatal like the trending Skull Breaker Challenge.

The Indian government has asked social media platforms TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and ShareChat to take down videos of the viral ‘skull-breaker’ challenge, which has resulted in serious head injuries among students across the globe.

Read to find out more…

What is the ‘Skull-Breaker’ Challenge?

The challenge gets its name from the Spanish word Rompcráneos, which in English translates to ‘Skullbreaker’. It started off as a joke between two school students in Spain but soon trended on TikTok and many users posted their videos doing this challenge.

In the skull-breaker challenge videos, three people stand side by side seemingly ready to jump into the air all at once. However, the two people on either side try to kick the legs out from under the one in the middle, making him or her fall. Doctors have warned that this free fall can result in head injuries, fractures to the joints, and even break the unsuspecting person’s skull.

The hashtag #skullbreakerchallenge received a staggering 4.8 million views on the popular platform.

Indian Government’s Take on the Challenge?

In an advisory issued last week, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) expects all social media platforms to take down such videos. 

The copy of the advisory that ET holds also stated that social media platforms should publish an online awareness campaign to help users avoid such dangerous actions.

MeitY said, “This being a dangerous game, severely impacting and harming minors and also being a public safety issue, it is expected that social media platforms expeditiously remove videos performing or attempting the skull-breaker challenge or influencing a child for skull breaker challenge or similar content as and when it comes to your notice.” 

The advisory aimed at Intermediary Guidelines of the Information Technology Act, which requires platforms to observe due diligence and inform its users to not host, display and update information that is harmful and objectionable, and affects minors.

TikTok told ET that it has taken down the videos as it has violated the company’s community guidelines. On February 21, it also put out a warning asking users not to participate in dangerous stunts. The warning pops up whenever a user searches for videos on the challenge.