Officials Respond to Reports of TikTok Boat Jumping Challenge Causing Deaths

The TikTok logo is displayed outside a TikTok office in Culver City, Calif., on Aug. 27, 2020. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

An Alabama law enforcement agency said on July 10 that it is not aware of any deaths linked to a TikTok challenge that encourages people to flip off the rear of a boat while moving at a high rate of speed, despite a slew of news reports quoting an Alabama official as saying otherwise.

In a series of posts on Twitter, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said recent reports regarding first responders warning against a TikTok boat jumping trend, reportedly resulting in four deaths, are “incorrect.”

“The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s (ALEA) Marine Patrol Division does not have any record(s) of boating or marine-related fatalities in Alabama that can be directly linked to TikTok or a trend on TikTok,” the agency stated.

“One individual was fatally injured after jumping from a moving vessel in 2020 and a similar marine-related fatality occurred in 2021, however, both fatalities cannot be linked to TikTok,” it added.

The agency’s announcement came shortly after Jim Dennis, captain of the Childersburg Rescue Squad, told NBC News’ “Today” in an interview published on July 10 that four people died while attempting the challenge.

“The four that we responded to when they jumped out of the boat, they literally broke their neck and, you know, basically an instant death,” Mr. Dennis said.

Mr. Dennis said in another interview that aired on ABC 33/40 on July 3 that the four victims were males of all ages and died over the past six months, stressing that the deaths were “easily avoidable.”

“Last six months we have had four drownings that were easily avoidable,” Mr. Dennis said. “They were doing a TikTok challenge. It’s where you get in a boat going at a high rate of speed, you jump off the side of the boat, don’t dive, you’re jumping off feet first and you just kinda lean into the water.”

In a statement to NBC News, TikTok said it has added warning labels on some of its videos in response to the now-disputed incidents, which forewarns social media users that “participating in this activity could result in you or others getting hurt.”

“It’s not accurate to characterize or report this as a TikTok challenge,” the short-form video hosting service said in the statement, adding the company “can’t comment on something that isn’t a trend on our platform.”

Mr. Dennis told ABC33/40 that one of the incidents happened in February. That victim, a middle-aged husband and father of three, was boating in Alabama with his family when he launched himself off the back of a speeding boat.

“Unfortunately, she [his wife] recorded his death,” the news outlet quoted Mr. Dennis as saying.

According to the news outlet, the most recent incident happened in May and also involved a middle-aged man.

“Do not do it. It’s not worth your life,” Mr. Dennis said, asking people to pursuade their loved ones to protect friends and family by recommending them not to participate.

“That is a very big concern because we have seen this pattern emerge over the last two years and it’s sporadic,” he said, adding that “it’s something that needs to go away and stay away.”

Concerns Over Viral TikTok Trends

TikTok, which said in a statement in March that it has over 150 million Americans on its platform, has become widely popular among teenagers and young adults. The Chinese-owned social media app, which centers around short video content, has helped some internet trends gain broader attention.

One trend that went viral on TikTok last year showed users how to break into and steal a number of different Kia and Hyundai models that were built between 2010 and 2021 that feature the same vulnerability, which allows people to steal them with simple tools and a USB cable. That TikTok trend coincided with a spike in thefts of Kias and Hyundais.

Another trend challenged TikTok users to hold their breath until they lost consciousness. One 10-year-old child died while attempting this breath-holding challenge and her mother filed a lawsuit against the social media platform, which is owned by the Chinese parent company ByteDance. The mother, Tawainna Anderson, alleged the social media platform was programmed to be addictive and was “programming children” for profit.

Meanwhile, government officials have called TikTok a national security threat over the app’s Chinese ownership and ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Officials have warned that the app could be used to spy on and gather the personal data of Americans.

Congress banned TikTok on federal government devices, and dozens of other state governments have also banned the app on their devices. There’s a growing bipartisan effort to ban TikTok altogether in the United States. In May, Montana became the first U.S. state to impose a complete ban on the platform after Gov. Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 419.

The ban on TikTok goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2024—unless Congress passes a national law overriding it, or TikTok cuts its ties with China.

Ryan Morgan contributed to this report.

From NTD News