Rumours about the alleged magnet trend follow other purported social media trends that stoke fear online but aren't truly connected to mainstream social media platforms. "Small magnet balls have been wreaking havoc on the health of children for years," Hes, the pediatrician, told Insider. The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which tracks the safety of consumer products, warned against children and teens placing magnetic balls in their mouths to make fake piercings in a report in 2012 - years before TikTok existed. The magnet-swallowing trend has existed for years A mother of a 6-year-old who was hospitalised in September after ingesting 23 magnets told the BBC that her daughter was trying to imitate tongue piercings she had seen in TikTok videos.Īnother mother, whose 9-year-old son had to undergo major surgery in September that reportedly resulted in him losing his small bowel, appendix, and a big portion of his large bowel, blamed a TikTok challenge as well, telling the BBC that while he did not have a TikTok account, he had seen videos shared from the tiktok trends #learnontiktok #schoolwithdrkaran #NeverJustAGame #piercing ? Moonlight Sonata: Adagio Sostenuto - Beethoven
![magnet challenge magnet challenge](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/uMUAAOSwgptarGBb/s-l640.jpg)
Many outlets and parents have called it a TikTok trendĭespite the apparent lack of evidence, several parents have claimed in news reports that their children were inspired to put magnets into their mouths because of a TikTok craze.Ī mother of an 11-year-old who was hospitalised in May for swallowing five magnetic balls blamed a "TikTok craze," the Daily Mail reported. Insider searched for "TikTok magnet challenge," "TikTok magnet piercings," and other variations of the alleged trend, but was unable to find any videos besides TikToks that warned other people not to place magnets in their mouth.Ī Fox News article from June embedded a TikTok video which they said garnered over 20,000 views and showed someone with magnets stuck to the top of their lip, but the TikTok is no longer available to watch.ĭyan Hes, a New York City pediatrician, told Insider that magnetic balls have been "wreaking havoc" on children's health for years. But there does not appear to be a major TikTok trend involving people placing magnetic balls into their mouths, says TikTok.Ī TikTok spokesperson told Insider in a statement that they could not find "evidence" of the trend existing on the app and said content that "encourages, promotes, or glorifies behaviour that might lead to injury" is prohibited.