A mother from Arizona has spoken out to warn others after a ‘malicious’ new TikTok challenge left her son hospitalised with a head injury.
First reported in Spain, the ‘skull breaker challenge’ involves three people standing beside each other before jumping in unison.
While the middle person is still in the air, the other two will kick inwards; knocking their legs out from underneath them. This trend has led to serious injuries, with many parents now coming forward to warn others of the potentially severe consequences.
Taking to Facebook, Valerie Hodson, from Tucson, revealed how her young son had been tricked into partaking in the trend by two friends, with the stunt leaving him unconscious on the floor.
Valerie wrote:
I really contemplated posting this, but I feel there needs to be awareness of this malicious cruel viral prank.
On Wednesday my son was asked to do a jumping contest with his two ‘friends’, when he jumped up, the two boys kicked him, as hard as they could, so his legs flew out in front of him.
He landed hard flat on his back and head, as he struggled to get up he lost consciousness, he fell forward landing on his face.
The school monitor ran to his side, all the while the two boys were snickering and laughing as his stiff unconscious body lay on the asphalt.
Fast forward at the hospital, he has a head injury, stitches in his face, severe cuts inside his mouth and two front teeth I have to keep on eye on. This apparently is a Tik Tok viral prank being filmed and gaining likes on social media.
She added:
Thought I’d clarify, no he did not know this was going to happen. The boys in question he has known for quite sometime, so his trust of them was warranted. The premise of the prank is to get an unsuspecting individual to jump, so the pranksters can kick/trip the person to see how hard they fall.
A TikTok spokesperson made the following statement in regards to this dangerous viral trend:
The safety and well-being of our users is a top priority at TikTok. As we make clear in our Community Guidelines, we do not allow content that encourages, promotes, or glorifies dangerous challenges that might lead to injury, and we remove reported behaviour or activity that violates our guidelines.
To help keep our platform safe, we have introduced a slate of safety features geared towards enhancing our users’ experience, including tools for reporting inappropriate content and for managing privacy settings.
TikTok is now tackling this challenge by replacing ‘skull breaker’ vids with ‘skull saver’ challenges, where users reenact the challenge without the kick.
If you’ve been affected by bullying and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Bullying UK (part of Family Lives) on 0808 800 2222. The helpline service is open 9am–9pm Monday to Friday and 10am–3pm Saturday and Sunday.
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.