TikTok, YouTube Beat Moms’ Suit Over ‘Choking Challenge’ Videos

Mothers who sued TikTok and YouTube over “choking challenge” videos that allegedly led to their children’s deaths failed to put forth viable claims for products liability, negligence, and misrepresentation, a federal judge said.

Magistrate Judge Virginia K. DeMarchi dismissed the 8-count proposed class action in its entirety, saying that several of the mothers’ claims failed both on the merits and also because the defendants—which include TikTok Inc., Google LLC, and YouTube LLC—have immunity under the federal Communications Decency Act, which provides a liability shield for online platforms that host content created by other parties. DeMarchi’s order, issued Monday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, gave the plaintiffs one month to try again in an amended complaint.

The plaintiffs include two mothers whose children died after mimicking online videos promoting choking and the mother of a child who was subject to verbal harassment and bullying in an online video. Following these experiences, the mothers regularly reported choking and other harmful videos that they say violate the companies’ policies, but the defendants failed to take appropriate action in response to their reports, according to the lawsuit.

DeMarchi dismissed the mothers’ claims for defective product design, saying they failed to clearly identify the product at issue or the design defect it allegedly contains. Their claim for negligence also fails, DeMarchi said, because they didn’t establish that their reports of allegedly harmful videos caused the defendants to assume a special duty of care toward them.

The complaint’s allegations “reflect that Defendants merely offer an opportunity for users to report videos that users believe violate Defendants’ policies or guidelines to Defendants for review,” the judge said. “Plaintiffs plead no facts suggesting that Defendants have undertaken an obligation to remove immediately any video Plaintiffs or other users report.”

DeMarchi also dismissed claims for misrepresentation and those filed under multiple state consumer statutes.

Cooley LLP represents Google and YouTube. King & Spalding LLP and Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP represent TikTok. Eisenberg & Baum LLP represents the plaintiffs.

The case is Bogard v. TikTok Inc., 2025 BL 59482, N.D. Cal., No. 5:24-cv-03131, 2/24/25.