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Video showing a man’s apparent suicide is reportedly circulating on TikTok, a popular social media platform that boasts as many as 18 million users every day who are 14 years old or younger.
TikTok announced late Monday it was working to curb the circulating of the suicide clip, which was live-streamed on Facebook but had made its way to the video-sharing app, the company said in a statement shared on Twitter.
"Our systems, together with our moderation teams, have been detecting and blocking these clips for violating our policies against content that displays, praises, glorifies, or promotes suicide," a TikTok spokesperson told Fox News in a similar statement on Tuesday. "We are banning accounts that repeatedly try to upload clips, and we appreciate our community members who've reported content and warned others against watching, engaging, or sharing such videos on any platform out of respect for the person and their family."
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The video surfaced on TikTok on Sunday night, according to Forbes. But despite the company’s efforts to curtail the clip’s circulation, some users were still encountering the video, prompting people to warn others away from the app until the footage could be removed, Forbes reported.
“Attention people who have Tik Tok [sic],” one user wrote, according to Forbes, “Please try not to go on TikTok today or tomorrow! … If you watch a video and it starts with a man with long hair and a beard on the phone scroll the hell away from it as quick as you can!”
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A TikTok spokesperson did not immediately respond to Fox News' inquiry regarding reports that the video was still appearing on the platform.
The outlet reported that as of July, TikTok was used by an estimated 18 million people every day who were 14 years old or younger.
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TikTok is owned by a Chinese tech company, ByteDance, and has been accused by the U.S. government of posing a national security threat. A recent executive order by President Trump has called for the app to be banned in the U.S., though it’s unclear what the ban will mean for TikTok’s roughly 100 million American users.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline toll-free number is 1-800-273-TALK (8255) and will connect the caller to a certified crisis center near where the call is placed and is available 24 hours a day.
FOX Business’ Audrey Conklin and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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