TikTok insists 'Benadryl Challenge’ has never been a trend on its platform after child's death

TikTok has insisted it’s “never seen” the “Benadryl Challenge” trend on its platform following the death of a 13-year-old boy.

Jacob Stevens died last Wednesday, six days after taking part in the viral stunt, which sees participants down large quantities of the antihistamine in a bid to induce hallucinations.

The tragedy came less than three years after a 15-year-old girl was killed by a fatal Benadryl overdose.

As a result, the challenge was widely condemned by both health officials and the anti-allergy medication’s manufacturer.

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Johnson & Johnson issued a statement back in 2020 saying: “The Benadryl TikTok trend is extremely concerning, dangerous and should be stopped immediately.”

The following month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also spoke out about misuse of the medicine, confirming it was “aware of news reports of teenagers ending up in emergency rooms or dying after participating in the ‘Benadryl Challenge’ encouraged in videos posted on the social media application TikTok.”

Yet, despite being explicitly named-checked by these organisations, the platform told indy100 it had never been home to the trend.

A spokesperson said in the wake of Jacob’s death: “Our deepest sympathies go out to the [Stevens] family. At TikTok, we strictly prohibit and remove content that promotes dangerous behavior with the safety of our community as a priority.

“We have never seen this type of content trend on our platform and have blocked searches for years to help discourage copycat behaviour.”

They added: “Content related to this 'challenge' pre-dates TikTok as a platform, and search terms related to it on TikTok are not available, and have been re-directed to our Community Guidelines for several years.”

However, according to multiple reports, the trend took off in 2020, not “several years ago”.

Search “Benadryl Challenge” on the app now and you will, indeed, be redirected to a page carrying the message: “Some online challenges can be dangerous, disturbing, or even fabricated. Learn how to recognize harmful challenges so you can protect your health and well-being.”

We can’t pin down exactly when the trend started. All we can say with certainty is that it's time for it to end.

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