By Jessica Easthope
The issue Currents News is reporting on is one that has been around for generations, and is making a comeback on social media.
It’s something that became a nightmare that Frank and Tina Kotnik wake up to every single day: their 15-year-old son Markus died accidentally while participating in a viral internet challenge.
Ever since, the Kotniks have advocated for regulations and internet safety, but mostly for parents to be aware of what they weren’t.
Anyone would think Frank Kotnik’s 1976 Pontiac Firebird Formula was his pride and joy, but his real pride and joy sits in the front seat. It’s a photo of his son, Marckus.
“Markus was as I would put it, an All-American boy, outgoing,” Frank Kotnik tells Currents News. “He loved sports, he loved going to car shows and was helping me rebuild my first car. He was in his glory when he was doing that, and it all came crashing down.”
Frank and Markus restored it together but recently Frank began to use the bright red muscle car to raise awareness: Markus accidentally strangled himself on May 11 2017 while playing “the choking game,” a viral trend that encourages viewers to asphyxiate themselves until they lose consciousness.
“All these other parents bring their kids to the car shows. I said, ‘I’m going to reach out to them,’” he explains of his choice to bring the car to shows with the photo in the passenger seat. “You don’t want to live my nightmare. Markus is always with me. And people come over and I pass these pamphlets out to parents and grandparents alike, saying, ‘If this could happen to us, this could happen to you.’”
“I came home and I went upstairs, and I was calling his name. And then I went into the bathroom, and I found him,” recalls Markus’ mother Tina. “And it was so hard, I screamed. I tried to get him down first, and I couldn’t and I opened the windows. I screamed, then my husband came in. It was just so hard.”
Searches on several social media platforms populate with videos depicting these dangerous challenges, waiting to be viewed by anyone with a device.
Judy Rogg, one of the nation’s most prominent choking game experts, spoke with Currents News about what the Kotnik family is going through. She runs Erik’s Cause, a non-profit dedicated to spreading awareness and providing education for adults and children about the dangers of viral social media challenges.
“You know, even smart, strong kids can make dumb choices with deadly consequences,” she tells Current News over Zoom. “And why? Because their brains aren’t fully developed to think through all of the consequences.”
Fifteen years ago, she was a victim of the choking game. Rogg’s 12-year-old son Erik died playing it on April 20, 2010.
“What happened to Eric is just every parent’s worst nightmare,” she recalls. “And, at the end of the day, it turns out that he left me with an underserved mission. And his underserved mission is to get the word out there about pass-out games, eventually online challenges,and harms in general.”
Rogg is a strong supporter of KOSA, or the Kids Online Safety Act – legislation first introduced to congress in 2022 aiming to establish a series of guidelines and tools to protect minors from harmful material online through a “duty of care system.”
“Challenges are really a stepchild of internet harms,” Roggs explains. “There are no public databases. There are no formal ways of registering a death or an injury.”
Over the years education has become her main focus, because the legislation can only go so far without it.
“For me, my primary purpose is the education,” she says. “Because unfortunately, I don’t see legislation happening anytime soon. Only because of the multi-billion dollar efforts of Big Tech to remain unregulated.”
Rogg and the Kotniks are living examples of what happens when the darkest parts of the internet grab hold.
“If somebody would have told me, maybe I would have had that conversation. Maybe that would have saved him,” wonders Frank Kotnik. “We don’t want to see any other family live the nightmare, what we are going through, over this nonsense. These online challenges, like the choking game.”
All they can do is hope their efforts save one life.
The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) Bill passed in the Senate with unprecedented bipartisan support, but was met with criticism in the House over censorship and free speech. It is set to be reintroduced in the House in 2025.
For more information about the dangers of the choking game – and for training programs for adults – go to erikscause.org.