Is TikTok’s silhouette challenge dangerous? New viral trend causing alarm

TikTok is a hive for viral content of all sorts, and has been responsible for the popularity of a number of dances and trends — but one of its latest “challenges” is proving to be quite dangerous for participants.

While TikTok has spawned quite a few humorous and interesting trends in the past, some of its bandwagon challenges have sparked worldwide concern (see the ‘Nutmeg Challenge,’ which tasked users with stirring nutmeg in a glass of water to produce hallucinogenic results).

This time around, the name of the game is the ‘Silhouette Challenge.’ In this trend, participants start out wearing normal or baggy clothing, then switch up to pose either nude or wearing lingerie in front of a dim, backlit background to show off their curves in a way that doesn’t reveal the full picture.

More specifically, the trend utilizes Snapchat’s “vin rouge” filter to produce a red light effect, giving the entire video a saucy aesthetic — a filter that some techies have managed to get past.

While the TikToker’s body will simply appear as a dark shadow, it seems that some users have found a way to bypass this effect using video editing software to turn up the light and sneak a peek at things that were meant to be private.

• Read More: TikTok adding new features to stop fake news

In fact, an entire subreddit sprung up around the topic, named ‘r/SilhouetteUnfilitered,’ which quickly became a hive for sharing unfiltered Silhouette Challenge videos. It has since been axed from the website for “violating Reddit’s rules against involuntary pornography.”

TikTokers are now warning their fellow users against participating in the challenge due to this possibility, with one photographer breaking the issue down in a video:

“Make sure you’re being cognizant of what you’re wearing before you actually do all the editing for the final product,” photographer ‘lostvnryshots’ explained. “Anyone can easily take those images and revert them back to the original.”

Still more are urging participants to delete their videos altogether, or advising that they simply wear a bathing suit while filming, in the first place.

Luckily, it seems that the word has spread far and wide, and users are taking pains to protect themselves after a body-positive movement unexpected turned sour.