A TikTok Trend Is Being Credited for Saving a Young Girl's Life

RJ Pierce, Tech Times 07 November 2021, 06:11 pm

Tiktok's massive popularity might have indirectly helped save the life of a young girl.

(Photo : Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images)
Tik Tok logo on a sweatshirt for sale on Oxford Street on 19th October 2021 in London, United Kingdom. TikTok, known in China as Douyin, is a video-sharing focused social networking service owned by Chinese company ByteDance.

Mashable reports that a certain TikTok trend aided in the rescue of a 16-year-old girl who went missing in North Carolina recently. The girl was found in Kentucky last Thursday with an adult man who has since been arrested.

A 911 caller alerted authorities after allegedly identifying a hand gesture that recently went viral on the social media platform TikTok.

The 911 caller allegedly drove by a vehicle where the girl was a passenger making hand gestures by the window, saying that they needed help. The gesture is done by holding your palm out to anyone that can help, tucking your thumb into it, then closing your fingers.

Authorities used the 911 call to track the vehicle down and pull it over. Apparently, the 16-year-old has been reported missing by her parents since last Tuesday, November 2nd.

The hand gesture indicated "domestic violence" or "violence at home" and was reportedly "first introduced" by the Canadian Women's Foundation on Instagram.

So far, the viral TikTok trend has garnered millions of views, as per the original Mashable report.

An investigation revealed that 61-year-old James Herbert Brick drove with the minor from the latter's North Carolina to Ohio, where Brick apparently had family, reports Fox8.

Furthermore, the authorities also revealed that they found a photo of a teenage girl portrayed in a "sexual manner" on a phone that Brick was carrying.

The suspect has since been charged with possession of matter showing sex performances by a minor, as well as unlawful imprisonment.

Finally a 'Good' TikTok Trend?

TikTok is full of videos explaining the likes of life hacks that can potentially save someone's life in the event of an emergency. Some of them have been bogus, while others seem genuinely helpful.

Here is a video of the domestic violence hand gesture that saved the girl, as demonstrated by the Laurel County Sheriff on YouTube:

Domestic violence, particularly against women, remains a massive problem all over the world. According to official estimates from the World Health Organization, roughly 1 in 3 women have experienced either physical/sexual or emotional abuse. That's roughly 30% of all women globally.

TikTok Trends Are Still Hit-Or-Miss

While it's good that this certain trend helped save the life of a young girl, the problem remains: a lot of the trends on TikTok have made headlines for being downright dangerous.

One of them is the so-called "Dry Scooping Challenge," which "challenged" users to consume pre-workout powder without mixing it with water. Numerous experts have called out this fad for its potential health risks when it started becoming popular last month.

This is why the popular social media platform has been called forth by the US Senate alongside YouTube and Snapchat for a hearing last October 26. In the hearing, the companies were questioned on how they could protect their young users.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by RJ Pierce