YouTube and Facebook are taking down clips of people eating Tide Pods detergent, an attempt to stop a dangerous new internet challenge among teenagers.
The social media platforms announced they will remove clips of users showing themselves eating the laundry packets due to health and safety concerns, CNN reported Thursday.
“YouTube’s Community Guidelines prohibit content that’s intended to encourage dangerous activities that have an inherent risk of physical harm,” said a spokesperson for Google, YouTube’s parent company.
{mosads}The trend of eating the laundry detergent packets, known online as the #TidePodChallenge, has led to numerous calls to the American Association of Poison Control Centers. The office reportedly received more calls about “intentional exposures” in the first 15 days of 2018 than in all of 2016.
Tide’s parent company, Procter & Gamble, said it was “deeply concerned” and enlisting celebrity influencers to stop the trend, including NFL star Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots.
“What the heck is going on, people? Use Tide Pods for washing. Not eating,” Gronkowski says in an official Tide video.