Choking and pass-out challenges on video feeds
Videos may encourage children to choke themselves or hold their breath until they pass out. These behaviours can cause brain injury or death, and there is no safe way to try them. Ask whether your child has seen related content.
One of several viral challenges on short-video feeds we track.
- Most relevant to:
- Ages 5–8, 9–12, 13–15
- Published:
- Last reviewed:
Start here: Talk plainly and early: 'passing-out' games can kill, there is no safe way to do them, and the brain is harmed within minutes without oxygen.
What is happening
- Also known as the 'choking game' or 'pass-out challenge', this dare resurfaces under new names and pressures children to deliberately cut off their breathing until they briefly lose consciousness, for a 'high' or for views.
- It spreads through short-video feeds and algorithmic recommendations, where one viral clip can reach millions of young viewers before it is taken down.
- There is no safe version: losing consciousness this way can cause seizures, brain injury, or death within minutes — and children, often attempting it alone, have died.
Why it matters
Potential impact: Deliberate self-strangulation to unconsciousness causes seizures, hypoxic brain injury, or death within minutes. Children attempting it alone in a bedroom have died; survivors show neck bruising, severe headaches, and bloodshot eyes.
Recommended next step: Priority guidance. A timely conversation, settings check, or safety step is recommended.
What to watch for
- Unexplained marks or bruising on the neck, frequent severe headaches, or bloodshot eyes.
- Disorientation after time alone, or questions about fainting, 'the choking game', or a named 'blackout' dare.
- Belts, ropes, drawstrings, or leashes found tied to furniture or in odd places in the bedroom.
What parents can do
- Talk plainly and early: 'passing-out' games can kill, there is no safe way to do them, and the brain is harmed within minutes without oxygen.
- Turn on platform restricted / Family Pairing modes, and report dare videos so the feed stops promoting them.
- Keep the conversation open and non-judgmental so they'll tell you what's going around — and remember the dare recurs and changes names.
- If you suspect your child has tried it, seek medical advice immediately; call your pediatrician, or in an emergency call 911.
Start the conversation
“Some videos show a game where you make yourself pass out. It isn't a game — it stops oxygen reaching the brain, and children have died doing it alone in their rooms. Have you seen anything like that?”
Say it in your own words, before anything has gone wrong. A child who has heard this once already knows where to go the day it matters.
In the news
Independent reporting on this topic from established news organizations. Press play to watch in place; links are re-verified on a schedule, so a clip that is taken down is flagged and removed.
- Priority guidance — A timely conversation, settings check, or safety step is recommended.ABC7
Parents sue TikTok for the death of their 9-year-old after the 'Blackout Challenge'
Sources and evidence
Evidence: Confirmed. Corroborated by two or more independent organizations — safety bodies, regulators, researchers, or established newsrooms. Last reviewed
If this is happening now
- If a child is unconscious, not breathing normally, or has been found with anything around their neck, call emergency services immediately and start CPR if trained.
- Any child who has passed out — even briefly, even if they seem fine — needs urgent medical assessment. Brain injury is not visible from the outside.
- Remove ligatures, belts, cords, and drawstrings from the room, and do not leave the child alone while you wait for help.
- Afterwards, ask where they saw it and report the clip. Tell the school — these spread through a year group, not one child.
If a child is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services. To report online exploitation, use the NCMEC CyberTipline, or Take It Down to get an image removed.
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