Publicity Stunts Become Public Safety Hazards

Content creators are doing dangerous things for fame, like breaking laws and sometimes even breaking bones.

“TikTok influencer Katie Sigmond is fined after hitting a golf ball into the Grand Canyon. Katie Sigmond, who has nearly seven million followers on TikTok and posts workout and modeling videos, faced legal trouble after the stunt,” The New York Times states. 

Influencers are doing dangerous stunts for views, starting new trends in which one steals, eats tide pods, car surfs, or completes the “blackout challenge,” where one drives with a blindfold.

Most social media platforms are not censoring videos like these. Some of these stunts are incredibly extreme. Felix Baumgartner, a professional skydiver from Austria, jumped from the stratosphere. He was trying to become the first parachutist to break the sound barrier.

Many creators use dangerous stunts to maintain or grow their following. The term “Clickbait” is used to describe the use of dangerous stunts like this to gain viewership. Influencer David Dobrik is recognized for regularly using this term.

Dobrik has 18 million subscribers onYoutube. In his videos, his friends do stunts. In one of his stunts, his friend Jeff Wittek was spun around from the arm of an excavator. This eventually lead to him falling to the ground and breaking his foot and hip, almost losing an eye, and shattering his skull. After this accident, Wittek sued Dobrik for 10 million dollars.