YOUTUBE HAS banned prank videos involving stunts that place people in serious danger after footage of a man attempting the viral ‘Bird Box Challenge’ close to a train track was uploaded to the site.
The horror film starring Sandra Bullock has been a major hit for the streaming service with its depiction of a world where an ominous unseen presence has driven million to suicide and forced those who survived to keep their eyes covered.
In one key sequence Bullock’s character blindfolds herself and two small children before attempting a daring daylight escape.
It’s resulted in the emergence of a Bird Box challenge, with fans blindfolding themselves before attempting to traverse a series of unique challenges.
Social media has been awash with fans attempting the #BirdBoxChallenge but, in some instances, it’s proven highly dangerous.
One user attempted to complete the challenge while driving a car while footage of a small child walking into the wall while blindfolded has also surfaced online.
The latest extreme attempt was first uploaded to YouTube prankster Ben Phillips channel on Sunday, where it racked up more than 200,000 views in a short space of time.
In the video, Phillips’ prank partner is filmed blindfolded while walking close to some track tracks where the sound of an oncoming train and a warning bell can be heard in the background.
The video also sees the blindfolded man filmed walking across stepping stones near to a river and, at another point, on top of a wall.
The clip has now disappeared from the video platform, with the Google-owned company updating its guidelines to ban pranks and dangerous challenges.
Am surprise guys around me ain't aware of the #BirdBoxChallenge 😅 just watch this.😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/h4eS2ZiJ4J
— Tweeting Fingers 👐🏽 (@danielokech8) January 3, 2019
While light-hearted pranks are still encouraged, YouTube is keen to avoid endorsing any stunts that might put people in danger or encourage others to take part.
In a new post added to the FAQ section on its website, it said: “YouTube is home to many beloved viral challenges and pranks, like Jimmy Kimmel’s Terrible Christmas Presents prank or the water bottle flip challenge.
“That said, we’ve always had policies to make sure what’s funny doesn’t cross the line into also being harmful or dangerous. Our Community Guidelines prohibit content that
encourages dangerous activities that are likely to result in serious harm, and today (we are) clarifying what this means for dangerous challenges and pranks.”
“We’ve updated our external guidelines to make it clear that challenges like the Tide pod challenge or the Fire challenge, that can cause death and/or have caused death in some instances, have no place on YouTube.
Bird Box Challenge while driving...predictable result. This happened on Monday as a result of the driver covering her eyes while driving on Layton Parkway. Luckily no injuries. pic.twitter.com/4DvYzrmDA2
— Layton Police (@laytonpolice) January 11, 2019
“We’ve made it clear that our policies prohibiting harmful and dangerous content also extend to pranks with a perceived danger of serious physical injury.
“We don’t allow pranks that make victims believe they’re in serious physical danger – for example, a home invasion prank or a drive-by shooting prank.
“We also don’t allow pranks that cause children to experience severe emotional distress, meaning something so bad that it could leave the child traumatised for life.”
Police are meanwhile said to be investigating Phillips’ video.
