Police warn against “illegal” Heartbeat challenge as old TikTok trend returns

TikTokers have been warned against doing the ‘Heartbeat Challenge’ of kicking people’s doors to the tune of a Kesha song as police say it could land them in hot water as it is “illegal.”

While it may have started out life as a platform for artists to share songs, dance routines, and art pieces, TikTok has become home to a wide range of content that spans pretty much every corner of the internet. 

Naturally, there are plenty of videos that cause people to raise their eyebrows at whether or not they not only break TikTok’s rules, but could also land the users in trouble as well. 

There have been a few examples of these recently, especially with the Kool-Aid man challenge, but an older challenge has been resurfacing in the UK. 

TikTok Heartbeat challenge makes return in UK after police warn against it

That’s right, the Heartbeat challenge – which sees TikTokers kicking doors to the tune of Kesha’s 2012 song Die Young – has started to have a bit of a resurgence in the UK. 

It was originally started back in 2021, but a recent video uploaded by Niks_1805 showed two young males making a video of themselves kicking a door in time with the song. They were caught on the TikToker’s doorbell camera as they scurried away, laughing at what they’d done. 

Naturally, some users were pretty shocked by it, and couldn’t believe that the 2021 trend had made a return. 

While the challenge isn’t as dangerous as others, it is vandalism and police have previously wanted that TikTokers could get in trouble as videos will be investigated. 

“It’s not just a bit of fun – it is frightening, anti-social and, in some cases, illegal,” PCSO Sarah Rex from Herefordshire Police told the Liverpool Echo. 

As it stands, the trend hasn’t quite made a sweeping return, but there are a few instances of it happening.