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A girl aged ten accidentally died while taking part in a terrifying TikTok challenge, according to reports in Italy.
Antonella Sicomero was found lifeless on the bathroom floor by her four-year-old sister in Palermo, Sicily, The Sun reports.
She told her family she was going for a shower – but investigators are said to believe she was really filming herself for the online craze.
Antonella’s heartbroken dad Angelo said another of Antonella’s sisters told him she had been taking part in a TikTok challenge, La Repubblica reports.
“My daughter, little Antonella, who dies because of an extreme game on TikTok, how can I accept it?”
RELATED: Chilean schoolboy, 12, dies playing viral TikTok suicide challenge
Police in Sicily have seized Antonella’s phone and are investigating possible links to social media sites, according to reports.
Like the dangerous Blue Whale challenge, the craze Antonella is feared to have joined is a sick game that has been popular on TikTok over the past year.
Experts have warned of the risks associated with these challenges, including fainting, seizures, brain damage, and even death.
Public prosecutors in Palermo have opened two investigations for “instigation to suicide”.
Antonella‘s mobile has been seized by investigators, who are looking into if she was broadcasting live, if she had been invited to play the game by someone else or if she was making the film for a friend.
Prosecutors also want to verify if she was copying videos of other TikTok users taking part in the challenge.
ANSA media agency report she arrived at hospital in cardiac arrest yesterday.
Doctors fought to save her life but she was later declared brain dead and in an irreversible coma.
Her organs were donated to save three other children before her life support was switched off.
Dad Angelo said: “In this way, Antonella will save many children.”
RELATED: Parents could sue over shock viral TikTok video
HOW TO TAKE CONTROL OF TIKTOK
Parents are urged to change these setting immediately to make the platform safer for their kids.
Go private:
- Head into Settings > Privacy and Safety and look for the Discoverability heading at the top.
- Under that you’ll see a setting called Private Account. Toggle this on.
- TikTok recommends your page to lots of other users to improve video circulation.
- Switch the setting off and the account will no longer be recommended to other users.
Shut out weirdos:
- In Privacy and Safety > Safety, you can prevent other users from interacting with you.
- Most of the settings are on Everyone by default, but can be changed to Friends or Off.
- You can prevent interactions on comments, Duets, Reacts, users seeing which videos you’ve liked, and also messages.
Restricted Mode ON:
- Restricted Mode tries to limit age-inappropriate content from appearing for children.
- It’s not perfect, and works through using computer-scanning systems – so some dodgy content will inevitably be missed.
- It’s also possible to set a passcode to prevent your child from changing this setting later on.
- You’ll find this in Settings > Digital Wellbeing > Screen Time Management.
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced here with permission
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