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One of the dangerous trends on TikTok is the Kia Challenge. The videos include instructions on how to steal a car, inciting crime
The TikTok Kia Challenge encourages users to steal cars
Thousands of videos land on the social media platform TikTok every day. While the majority are mainly for entertainment, some also call on viewers to take part in dangerous and even criminal challenges.
- The Kia Challenge on TikTok is based on some viral videos in which the creators claim that the Kia and Hyundai car brands are particularly easy to steal.
- To prove this, the users promptly show concise video instructions on how to hotwire and steal a Kia, for example, within minutes.
- With this, the users not only trivialise a crime, but also show the viewers in detail how they put it into practice. Such a trick is probably especially appealing to teenagers, the platform’s main target group. TikTok is approved for use from the age of 13.
- The result: viewers, mainly teenagers and young people, feel encouraged to copy.
Increase in car theft due to TikTok Challenge
Unfortunately, incitement to crime is not a theoretical problem because of social media. Specifically in the US, the TikTok Kia Challenge has already claimed lives.
- On 24 October 2022, four teenagers aged 14 to 19 were killed in a car accident involving a stolen Kia in Buffalo in the US. Among the deceased is a 14-year-old teenage mother. Suspected to have been instigated by the Kia Challenge on TikTok.
- According to local Buffalo magazine Spectrum, the number of stolen Kias specifically has increased 200% over the previous year since the TikTok Challenge became public.
- Unfortunately, the Kia Challenge is not the only life-threatening and criminal trend on social media. Also in 2022, the Blackout Challenge led to the deaths of children and teenagers, including an 8-year-old and a 9-year-old girl from the US.
