The "#seizurechallenge" on TikTok and How You Can Help

Since California's stay-at-home order, I have started to use social media more. I've used Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and now I have joined TikTok. TikTok has a variety of content- cooking recipes, funny videos, and dance videos. The list goes on. However, the epilepsy community has noticed a problem with the dancing videos on the app. People, mostly on the younger side, have started a "seizure challenge" on TikTok, where they dance and fake seizures to the late rapper Juice Wrld's music. The videos on the social media platform are meant to pay tribute to Juice Wrld, who had a seizure before his passing. While there have been many petitions to remove the videos that mimic seizures, the challenge is not new. Many teenagers have been posting on TikTok since December 2019, when Juice Wrld died. As a strong advocate for epilepsy awareness, I messaged the TikTok account on Twitter, expressing my concern, but they never replied. For many of us with seizure disorders, the challenge can be very triggering; no one wants to see a video of someone faking a seizure for likes on social media. While the app has some fun dance trends and challenges, the "#seizurechallenge" is downright disrespectful to the epilepsy community. Although TikTok has yet to make a statement or take down the videos, the challenge has been receiving some negative attention in the news since April, when the challenge began to resurface. Many users on TikTok have called out people who participate in the challenge, in one form or another. For now, the best thing that the epilepsy community can do is continue to sign petitions, bring awareness to the controversy on TikTok, and try to contact our epilepsy foundations.

Here are 2 petitions you can sign to help:

http://chng.it/M2PZjRCnd2

http://chng.it/nhcGD5sr9k

-TGWE