Ever since the ALS Ice Bucket challenge broke the internet back in 2014, there has been no dearth of viral challenges taking over social media. However, increasing danger quotient is a worrying pattern that has been observed in these challenges. The most recent addition to the slew of TikTok challenges is the 'Skull Breaker' - an evidently dangerous exercise wherein a person jumping is made to trip and fall flat on his back by 2 persons on either side of him. The Skull Breaker is now going viral on the video sharing platform, with several persons reportedly injuring their heads from the impact of the fall.
With the trend catching on in Kerala, the state police have now issued a warning asking youngsters not to participate in the Skull Breaker Challenge.
"You must have noticed gaming challenges such as Skull Breaker which has been going around the internet in recent years. Such challenges being attempted by kids on a whim are mostly cropping up on TikTok. There have been several reports that people have sustained serious injuries simply by attempting such challenges. Parents, school authorities and fellow students should exercise extreme caution to ensure that such life threatening gaming challenges are not performed by people including our children," a post on the Kerala Police Facebook page read.
This is not the first time that the Kerala police have issued warnings and threatened action against users who perform dangerous challenges.
In November 2018, when 'Nillu Nillu', an inane viral challenge which required people to stop moving vehicles and dance in front of them, gained popularity in the state, the Kerala police warned youngsters to not attempt the challenge as it was both dangerous and caused public nuisance.
The Kerala Police's Facebook page published a troll video of the 'Nillu Nillu' challenges, where the dancers are seen being run over by the bus they halted, and later being moved in an ambulance. The video also warned social media users to avoid dangerous practices/challenges.
The warning was prompted as many students had blocked KSRTC buses, private buses and vehicles to record the 'Nillu Nillu' challenge.
Prior to this, in July 2018, the 'KiKi challenge' posed by Canadian rapper Drake was the viral rage across social media. The challenge required people to jump out of moving cars and break into a dance. Once again, the Kerala police, among other state police departments in India, tackled the challenge with a hilarious troll video. The video shows a young man jumping out of his car to dance on the road. Towards the end of the 21 second video, the man lands up straight in a police vehicle.