Venezuela's Supreme Court on Monday fined TikTok $10 million over a viral challenge that led to the deaths of three teenagers from chemical poisoning. Supreme Judicial Court Judge Tania D'Amelio said the popular video-sharing app was negligent in failing to take "necessary and appropriate measures" to prevent the spread of content that encouraged challenges.
TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, was ordered to open an office in the South American country and pay a fine within eight days or face "appropriate" measures.
D'Amelio said Venezuela would use the money to "create a TikTok Victims Fund to compensate users, especially children and adolescent users, for their psychological, emotional and physical losses."
The company responded to the court that it "understands the seriousness of the matter" and that TikTok's official policy prohibits videos promoting self-harm and suicide.
Three teenagers have died and 200 others have been poisoned after ingesting chemicals during social media "challenges" in schools across the country, according to Venezuelan authorities.
TikTok's huge global success is built in part on the success of its "challenges." A "challenge" is a call to action that invites users to create dance, joke or game-themed videos that sometimes go viral. The app has been accused of spreading dangerous challenge videos that put users at risk.
In November, President Nicolás Maduro threatened to take "severe measures" against TikTok if it did not remove content related to what he called "criminal challenges."
After his controversial re-election in July, Maduro said social networks were being used to promote "hatred," "fascism" and "divisiveness," and he accused Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of social media platform X, of orchestrating "attacks against Venezuela."