Unfortunately, there are times when influencers on social media, beside documenting their lives, also promote harmful behaviour. We recently described the example of Kamil Szymczak, who performed dangerous acrobatic tricks few meters above the ground.

TikTok ia a place where a lot of life-threatening trends emerge, an example being the death of a young girl participating in a 'blackout challenge'. An influencer nicknamed Sanqiange took a slightly different route and decided to take part in an alcohol challenge by streaming it on the platform. It ended in tragedy.

"PK" (‘player knock-out’) is a popular challenge in China. Influencers in one-on-one battles compete against each other in various competitions for prizes and gifts from viewers. Sanqiange and another influencer took part in "PK", and their task was to drink Baijiu. This is a strong Chinese alcohol.

On 16 May, in a broadcast on TikTok, influencers showed the challenge. A friend of Sanqiange named Zhao told CNN that he had seen the influencer drink three bottles on camera and started the fourth one. However, he does not know how much alcohol Sanqiange ultimately consumed, as he switched off during the broadcast. Some media reports say it was seven bottles.

The "PK" competition was due to end at 1am. In the afternoon, Sanqiange was found dead by his family. The influencer had most likely drunk himself to death while taking part in the challenge. The viral video documenting his behaviour is no longer available on TikTok, but excerpts from the footage can be found online.

Last year, China banned young people from accessing streams after 10 p.m. As CNN reports, China's National Administration of Radio and Television and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism also decided to name and issue "31 inappropriate behaviours of live streamers".

The situation that occurred at the stream is likely to bring the discussion about safe streaming back to China. It might be worth introducing such bans in other countries, considered that dangerous behaviours are promoted in many places. The French for that matter, are concerned about the safety of the youngest and therefore restrict their access to social media.

Source: CNN, NY Post