YouTube Bans “Dangerous Pranks” After ‘Bird Box’ Challenge
YouTube has updated its rules to explicitly ban dangerous pranks and challenges after a Bird Box blindfold challenge went viral.
In a detailed updated FAQ, the platform said that it is explicitly banning the kinds of pranks that present a risk of serious danger or death. Also banned are pranks which make victims believe they’re in serious danger — i.e. a home invasion prank or a drive-by shooting prank — or ones that cause children to experience emotional distress.
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Director Susanne Bier’s Netflix film Bird Box stars Sandra Bullock as a woman who joins two children (Julien Edwards, Vivien Lyra Blair) in making her way through a dystopian setting along a river — all while blindfolded. In this postapocalyptic world, an ominous presence drives much of the world to suicide simply by looking at it.
In our social media-obsessed culture, the film inspired people to don blindfolds while attempting to do various tasks, often with painful results. The viral craze previously prompted Netflix to issue a plea, urging people to not try and emulate the so-called Bird Box challenge.
“Can’t believe I have to say this, but: PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE,” the internet network tweeted. “We don’t know how this started, and we appreciate the love, but Boy and Girl have just one wish for 2019 and it is that you not end up in the hospital due to memes.”
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