Another Social Media Challenge Goes Off the Rails

A Texas company stopped selling ultra-spicy chips after a teenage boy attempted the Paqui One-Chip Challenge and died the same day.

Taking the one-chip challenge means eating one extremely spicy tortilla chip and waiting as long as possible to drink anything. According to the company’s website, the snack chips are “among the hottest peppers currently available,” with Carolina Reaper Peppers roughly 1.7 million Scoville Units and the Naga Viper Pepper at roughly 1.4 million Scoville Units, a unit used to measure the heat of peppers. For context, a jalapeño registers between 2,500 and 8,000 Scoville Units, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Each package includes a prominently-displayed warning label. Nevertheless, after the boy’s death, “out of an abundance of caution, we are actively working with our retailers to remove the product from shelves,” the company said in a statement.

Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. commented on the case on Twitter, “Medical professionals have said the tortilla chip, which is made from two of the spiciest chili peppers in the world, can cause very serious and dangerous side effects.”

Dangerous Social Media Challenges

Teens have developing bodies and the part of the brain that controls decision-making, and specifically risk/reward evaluation, is usually one of the last parts to fully develop. 

Biologically, most people cannot make good decisions until their mid 20s. The decision-making process takes much longer to develop in some cases.

Young children see the reward but cannot see the risk. Children accept dangerous social media challenges because see the reward but don’t see the risk of serious injury.

Teens cannot pause to consider that laundry detergent is a poison that burns their throats and damages their airways. They also cannot appreciate the fact that misusing medications, like diphenhydramine (Benadryl), can cause heart problems, seizures, and comas. What they will focus on, however, is that a popular kid in class took a challenge and got hundreds of likes and comments.

Children can hurt themselves or others when they accept social media challenges. The egg crack challenge is a good example. Cracking an egg on a classmate’s head is good for a laugh, but it’s emotionally damaging.

Personal Injury Claims and Foreseeability

Meta and other social media platforms could be responsible for social media challenge-related physical or emotional injuries, if a lawyer proves the injury was foreseeable (possible), from the defendant’s perspective.

The compensation in a personal injury case usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. Additional punitive damages may be available as well, in some extreme cases.

Injury victims deserve compensation and justice. For a free consultation with an experienced attorney, contact Napoli Shkolnik.