The death of 10-year-old Antonella, who died while filming herself making the "headscarf game" on the TikTok application, has not finished outraging Italy.
On Thursday, a 48-year-old Sicilian influencer was charged with incitement to suicide, police said in a statement on Thursday.
“The investigators of the postal police […] found on the social network TikTok a link leading to the profile of the Sicilian influencer in which we see a video reproducing a 'challenge' between the woman and a man in which the two are completely covered the face, including the mouth and nose, with transparent tape, so that they could not breathe, the statement said.
"This video, extremely dangerous because it can be seen by all users, without any restriction, and serve as an emulation for minors […] has been eliminated from the TikTok platform", according to the same source.
The Sicilian influencer "had published many other similar" video challenges "allowing her to gain the popularity and attention of 731,000 followers.
Its popularity was such that a user wrote to it: "Hi… if you say hello to me, I swear I'm going out the window."
Her social media accounts were blocked and she was the subject of a computer search, according to the same source.
Social media dangers
Last week in Palermo (Sicily, south), Antonella died of suffocation while participating in a “headscarf game” challenge while filming herself with her cell phone on TikTok.
The "headscarf game", in which one blocks one's breathing until fainting to experience strong sensations, causes accidents each year, some of which are fatal.
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This case caused great excitement in Italy and the Personal Data Protection Authority temporarily blocked TikTok from accessing users whose age is not guaranteed.
The minimum age to be able to legally register on TikTok is thirteen years old.
In the wake of this tragedy, the same authority on Wednesday asked Facebook and Instagram for clarifications on the access of minors to the two social networks.
