The warning named TikTok as the hub for the trend's videos, but an Insider investigation into the purported fad found no videos on TikTok encouraging people to partake. One instance was the "Benadryl Challenge," a trend that the FDA warned about where people would down a large amount of the antihistamine to try to feel hallucinogenic effects. There have been many examples of broadly social media-based challenges that the government and outlets have blamed on TikTok, when in reality they had little to no presence on the platform. Researchers tracked its origins back to a rumor at a single California high school, which then spread through Facebook groups popular with educators. While many dangerous online trends have legitimately gone viral, there are also numerous instances where authorities and media outlets have warned about trends that were barely popular or never existed in the first place.Ī major example was the so-called "Slap a Teacher" TikTok challenge in late 2021, which gained traction as a Facebook rumor and led to warnings across states, school districts, and police departments. "As long as it was exciting and scary, people would still share it as if it was real," Durfee said. He felt the saga and the resulting ban proved him right. His video amassed hundreds of thousands of views and clips about the trend spread online, eventually leading TikTok to ban his account.ĭurfee told Insider he wanted to see if it was possible to spawn an internet rumor if it was something that could be easily disproved "with about two seconds of work just by searching" - even his original video made it clear the challenge was made-up. Sebastian Durfee, a 23-year-old TikToker and actor, aimed to prove that any scary-seeming trend could go viral when earlier this month he led a campaign to make a fictional "porcelain challenge" go viral.ĭurfee made a TikTok last weekend telling his followers about an idea - a fake challenge where people would snort blended-up porcelain - and urged them to "troll the boomers" by making videos warning about the craze, pretending it was real. Panics over social media trends have become so common that they have begun to inspire their own parodies. Over the last few years, a wave of fake and flimsy trends have turned into fodder for moral panics: "Slap a Teacher," the Momo hoax, the "Skeleton Brunch" meme and more have become objects of concern for authorities and parents. The FDA's warning about cooking chicken in NyQuil is not the first time authorities or media organizations have given outsized attention to a barely-there online trend. Soon, an essentially non-existent trend that had its roots in a 4chan meme was all over news headlines and social media platforms. The issue has been in the spotlight following a report by NBC News earlier this month describing the deaths of teens and young adults who were suspected of buying fentanyl-laced drugs through Snapchat.When the Food & Drug Administration put out a memo last month warning readers not to marinate chicken in NyQuil cold and flu medicine, it had the opposite effect as intended - instead of keeping people away, it likely led to thousands of new searches for the neon poultry. Heads Up is an in-app educational portal that will distribute content from expert organizations - such as Song for Charlie, Shatterproof, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - when people search drug-related keywords on the app, aimed at educating people on mental health and coping mechanisms. The company is also launching a new "Heads Up" feature in Snapchat. Snapchat said over the past year it's been "investing in proactive detection and collaboration with law enforcement to hold drug dealers accountable for the harm they are causing our community." "We have heard devastating stories from families impacted by this crisis, including cases where fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills were purchased from drug dealers on Snapchat," the company said in a blog post. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and can be deadly even in small quantities. Snapchat on Thursday said it taking steps to stop illegal drug sales on its platform amid an increase in overdose deaths in the US linked to drugs laced with fentanyl.
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