Viral Challenges, Cyber Control, and Necessary Regulation of Social Media

Venezuelan Education Minister Héctor Rodríguez confirmed in a statement the recent deaths of two Venezuelan teenagers who participated in “viral challenges” on social media like TikTok.

One of the cases involved a 12-year-old girl, a resident of Sucre municipality in Miranda state, who ingested anxiolytic pills at her home while making a video call. The challenge consisted of competing with some schoolmates to see who could take several doses, and the one to fall asleep first would lose.

However, this trend of viral challenges has persisted for several weeks. At the beginning of November, 179 students suffered mass poisonings in Barinas and Portuguesa states after participating in a challenge called “chroming.” It involved the inhalation of toxic vapors from paints, solvents, glues, acetone, gasoline, and aerosols, used to experience sensations similar to those from drug use.

Affecting “the most precious”
Viral challenges on social media have caused the deaths of minors and adults in different parts of the world, the most recent cases occurring in the United Kingdom and Australia. In Venezuela, the government has launched a prevention campaign in which security forces have gone to educational institutions and talked with students, administrative staff, and teachers about viral challenges, their consequences, and how to avoid them.

These viral challenges consist of recording and publishing, mainly on TikTok or Instagram, a dance, a joke, or a challenge for other users to see and imitate.

Depending on the interest that a challenge generates, it goes viral due to its massive spread on the internet and the widespread tendency to imitate others’ behavior to receive likes and attention, especially among teenagers.

On November 14, on his podcast Maduro Live de Repente, President Maduro reported the arrest of some individuals associated with the events and stated that the far-right “is trying to ride” on the unfortunate incidents of mass poisonings.

He highlighted that “extremist sectors called for the closure of schools,” which corresponds with the far-right’s tendency to invoke chaos amid any disturbance.

On November 18, the president reiterated his concern on the matter and instructed Minister Jorge Márquez, president of the National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL), to “immediately contact TikTok Latin America in Mexico and give them 72 hours to remove all these abusive, criminal challenges from Venezuela.”

For his part, Minister of the Interior, Citizen Security, and Peace Diosdado Cabello suggested that the government could regulate the use of social media for minors. He also called on the security forces to be alert and increase surveillance in the face of what he called a threat to “our children, the most precious thing that we have.”

Most of those who were poisoned in the chroming incident were students, but there were also healthcare workers, firefighters, and police officers, which is a greater risk to public safety.

Venezuelan Authorities Take Action After TikTok Challenge Poisons Students

Social media: A powerful mechanism of control
Digital social media is the main avenue through which this phenomenon has spread, which is one of the various impacts of these technologies. Venezuelan government entities have analyzed the phenomenon of cyber control, that is, controlling individuals and societies through information and communication technologies (ICTs). Such a mechanism is often associated with some form of control in real life.

Decisions and behaviors are shaped through the use of private information to achieve objectives ranging from the purchase of goods to political positions, as highlighted in the book Capitalism and Cyber Control, published by the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2022. It refers to the configuration of (inter)subjectivities, imaginaries, and psychosocial repercussions in which “the role of pedagogical reflection and critical research for understanding the core axes of the metabolism of capital and surveillance technologies is highlighted,” says the prologue written by Science and Technology Minister Gabriela Jiménez.

The influence of social media has been a subject of debate in various fields because their dominance has been on the rise, especially in the political arena. After the presidential election on July 28, its use for destabilization was evident once again.

A violent escalation organized by an extremist sector of the opposition, which still does not recognize the election results, was described as a “criminal cyber-fascist coup” by President Maduro. The recorded toll was 27 deaths and damage to public facilities and private property.

The campaign that encouraged the violence included the dissemination of messages of hatred and political intolerance, as well as fake news aimed at creating social instability in the country. It also reinforced the ongoing narrative of a “failed state” abroad, with the consequent call for military intervention by various influencers.

During the course of the coup attempt, the involvement of the owner of X, Elon Musk, was evident, as well as the spreading of fake news and the intimidation of community leaders through the messaging application WhatsApp, owned by Mark Zuckerberg, who also owns Facebook and Instagram.

Big Tech is a network of economic groups that wield political power through ICTs. At least seven tech corporations are on the list of the top ten companies in the world, ranked by their market capital. This exceeds $10 trillion, surpassing the combined values of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Germany, the United Kingdom, and France.

These companies have the ability to exert control over the citizenry through surveillance, censorship, and manipulation based on the collective belief that technologies are democratic and support individual autonomy.

Vital challenge: Debating the regulation of social media
Various analyses suggest that the search for interactions on social media surged due to the increased use of these platforms after the pandemic. Others assert that adolescents are especially susceptible to peer pressure as well as pressure from the adults with whom they interact for various reasons.

A study conducted by Canadian researchers on 4,520 children aged between eight and 11, published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, demonstrates that the excessive use of mobile technologies, screens, games, television, etc., affects the cognitive development of children and adolescents compared to those who use them sparingly.

TikTok is the most prominent online platform for viewing and participating in viral challenges online. According to data updated as of September 2024, 41.7% of its users worldwide are under 25 years old. This year, TikTok has surpassed 1.5 billion active users and is expected to reach 1.8 billion users by the end of the year. In 2023, it had 733 million downloads, while the app was downloaded 704 million times in 2022.

Users adopt multiple strategies to capture the audience’s attention and monetize their content, that is, to earn income from views. Organizing and spreading challenges is one of them. A study conducted by the Cyberpsychology Group of the International University of La Rioja revealed that, although the most frequent challenges are social (80.3%), followed by solidarity challenges (20.6%), almost 8% of users admit to having engaged in dangerous challenges. Another thing to highlight is that 15.3% simultaneously engaged in harmless social challenges and dangerous challenges.

The debate on regulating digital networks is ongoing, with many opinions combining restrictive measures by the States with educational challenges. A spokesperson for Digi, the conglomerate to which the Snapchat network belongs, said regarding the restrictions proposed in Australia, “Swimming has risks, but young people are not prohibited from going to the beach. On the contrary, they are taught to swim.”

The president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, has announced that the committees on Family and Domestic Policy and Education, Science, and Technology will be tasked with drafting an initial report that will serve as the basis for a bill regulating the use of these digital platforms.

Perhaps the Digi spokesperson should consider that no elites control the waves and use them to increase their surveillance over the swimmers. However, digital networks are here to stay, and the vital challenge is to survive despite them.

Just as the United States and the European Union have regulated these platforms, Venezuela faces the challenge of doing so to protect its population from one of the most harmful aspects of these technologies. In Mexico and Brazil, for example, political parties allied with corporate interests have resorted to the myth of freedom of expression to undermine debates regarding a regulatory framework that would protect the people from misinformation and safeguard them from the indiscriminate use of personal data.

It is necessary to define and implement clear standards on what constitutes acceptable online behavior. This is essential for creating a safe and healthy environment for all users, especially the younger ones, who are particularly vulnerable to the negative influence of certain types of content.

(Misión Verdad)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/SC/SF