What is the Skull Breaker Challenge? The new TikTok craze left two teens injured

4 March 2020, 16:14

By Jazmin Duribe

TikTok's Skull Breaker Challenge is actually incredibly dangerous.

TikTok is the birthplace of viral challenges (see: Say So Challenge) and a number of hit songs. However, performing some challenges can have seriously dangerous consequences. TikTok have urged their users to stop doing the Skull Breaker Challenge after two teens wound up injured.

In January, a 13-year-old boy was hospitalised with a major concussion in New Jersey, after doing the Skull Breaker Challenge at school. The boy was found non-responsive with paramedics first believing he had suffered a seizure.

Two students at Cherry Hill High School have now been charged with third-degree aggravated assault and third-degree endangering an injured victim, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office told NBC New York on Tuesday (Mar 3).

READ MORE: Who created the original Say So TikTok dance? Haley Sharpe cameos in Doja Cat video

A similar separate incident occurred in Massachusetts in February, when a girl, who was also aged 13, ended up in the hospital with a concussion after performing the challenge, NBC Philadelphia reports. The girl believed she was "paralysed" after the stunt. She was left unable to feel anything following the impact.

What is the TikTok Skull Breaker Challenge?

The Skull Breaker Challenge involves three people standing in a row, before all three are meant to jump in the air. However, the two people on the end do not jump and instead kick the middle person's legs from underneath them, which causes them to fall backwards. As a result, the person can end up cracking their skull as they hit the ground, hence the name.

TikTok have now urged their users not to attempt the dangerous challenge. A spokesperson for TikTok told NBC New York: "The behaviour in question is a violation of our Community Guidelines and we will continue to remove this content from our platform."