In the event you have been searching for a approach to break your again, the most recent lunatic problem to emerge on TikTok is the milk crate problem, which entails stacking empty crates right into a rickety, makeshift staircase and trying to traverse it with out greeting the ground along with your face. The duty appears easy sufficient, however most of the tries seem to finish with the construction toppling over like Jenga because the challenger is in mid-crossing.
Inexplicably, the development has gone viral, racking up greater than 15 million views, and movies of individuals snapping their bones on plastic have been making the rounds for days. Like different harmful TikTok fads—together with chugging Benadryl and gnawing a corn cob caught to a rotating energy drill—well being specialists advise against it. However that hasn’t stopped the world from diving headfirst into problem after hazardous problem, regardless of actual and probably lethal penalties.
On the middle of the controversy is TikTok itself, which has confronted criticism for letting the challenges proliferate. When Quick Firm reached out relating to the latest milk crate problem, a TikTok spokesperson responded with the next assertion:
“TikTok prohibits content material that promotes or glorifies harmful acts, and we take away movies and redirect searches to our Neighborhood Tips to discourage such content material. We encourage everybody to train warning of their habits whether or not on-line or off.”
Regardless of the remark—which consists primarily of generic, boilerplate language—milk crate movies are nonetheless extraordinarily simple to find. A seek for the #milkcratechallenge hashtag turns up practically 9 million views, which additionally illustrates completely how social media, by design, usually rewards acts of questionable judgement with web clout.
However that’s to not say we ought to be pointing all our fingers at TikTok. With a platform that large—TikTok boasts greater than a billion month-to-month customers—content material takes on a lifetime of its personal, and it may be close to unattainable to comprise as movies are consistently reposted with numerous methods that make them more durable to establish by way of algorithm. Somewhat than enjoying the blame recreation, we might all do one thing to finish the insanity. For instance: Full-grown adults, please cease supergluing vampire fangs to your enamel or licking random public objects to see for those who catch the coronavirus.
