A university researcher has warned that a viral challenge involving high-speed collisions is exposing young people to serious brain injuries and long-term neurological risks.
The “Run It Straight” challenge, widely shared on platforms including TikTok, YouTube and Facebook, involves participants – often young men – sprinting at each other and colliding at full force, with impacts likened to unbelted car crashes.
The trend has spawned monetised competitions such as the RUNIT Championship League.
Experts say these impacts create a high risk of acute brain trauma, catastrophic spinal injuries, and longer-term neurodegenerative conditions in which brain cells gradually deteriorate.
Dr Karen Hind from Lancaster Medical School co-authored a report on the issue as part of the Repercussion Group – an international coalition of experts in neuroscience, neurology, public health, sports medicine and caregiving.
Many members have direct experience supporting people living with traumatic brain injury or related conditions such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a disease linked to repeated head impacts.
The report warns that these events are glamorised and monetised on social media, despite exposing participants to dangerous biomechanical forces.
Dr Hind said: “Turning human collisions into viral spectacle is a failure of ethical leadership in both sport and tech.
“We are calling for immediate policy intervention to protect individuals, particularly young people, from exploitation and irreversible harm.”
Dr Stephen T. Casper, a medical historian and lead author, added: “This is not sport – it is entertainment built on real human harm.
“These are engineered systems for brain injury, exploiting social media’s viral reach to normalise collisions that can permanently alter lives.”
The report argues these activities lack ethical safeguards or informed consent, and are driven by social and economic incentives that prey on vulnerable individuals while insulating organisers and platforms from accountability.
The Repercussion Group stressed that responsibility lies not only with those running the events, but also with platforms that host, promote and profit from the content.
