Viral video platform TikTok has issued a warning regarding the danger of serious injury surrounding the so-called skull-breaker challenge.
TikTok warned that the skull-breaker challenge, which involves two people kicking the legs from under a third person, making them fall over, has caused serious injury among teenagers in the UK and US.
Two teenagers have been charged by US prosecutors with aggravated assault over the prank and officials have warned parents to stop their children from participating in the challenge.
In a statement, TikTok said: "We do not allow content that encourages or replicates dangerous challenges that might lead to injury. In fact, it's a violation of our community guidelines and we will continue to remove this type of content from our platform."
"Nobody wants their friends or family to get hurt filming a video or trying a stunt. It's not funny - and since we remove that sort of content, it certainly won't make you TikTok famous," the company added.
TikTok also urged its users to report videos containing the challenge. It also claimed that there was now text underneath #skullbreakerchallenge "reminding users to not imitate or encourage public participation in dangerous stunts and/or risky behaviour that could lead to serious injury or death".
In February, a British mother, whose daughter took part in the challenge with two friends, wrote a Facebook post saying: "Please, please if you have teenagers doing TikToks, do not let them get involved in this. I'm sitting in [accident and emergency] with my daughter with a severe spinal injury."
The post had a picture of her daughter taking part in the challenge alongside another image of her in a hospital wearing a neck brace.
Meanwhile, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office in New Jersey charged two teens with third-degree aggravated assault and third-degree endangering an injured victim involving the skull-breaker challenge.
Prosecutor Jill S Mayer urged parents to discuss with their children the potential consequences of taking part in a social media challenge. She said: "While the challenge may seem funny or get views on social media platforms, they can have long-lasting health consequences."
