TikTok's 'face split' diving accident is a trend you need to avoid
By Matthew Martinez
Screenshots from footage of a cliff diving accident in the late 2000s have resurfaced on TikTok as users are learning about a disturbing diving accident that left someone with a ‘split face’.
In what has become a rather dark piece of internet lore, every so often an old video of a cliff dive that went wrong seems to come back and do the rounds online.
While thankfully there doesn’t currently appear to be actual video footage of the incident on TikTok, some users are being exposed to stories of the incident for the first time.
The TikTok face split diving trend explained
TikTok is a broad church of online content, with viral trends ranging anywhere from artificial intelligence filters to songs about corn.
Sometimes, however, trending TikTok topics can be slightly darker than adorable songs about sweetcorn. The ‘split face diving’ clip is a prime example of such a trend.
The vast majority of videos within the face split trend follow the same formula. They usually consist of a blurry screenshot from the original video, set to sad or atmospheric music, along with an explanation of what happens in the video.
Some users prompt viewers to follow links in their bio to watch the original video, while the most popular search within the trend is “face split guy full video”, showing that several viewers have been hooked by the teasers of the incident.
Thankfully, as someone who came across the video a number of years back, it would appear that TikTok’s guidelines have prevented the majority of accounts from actually viewing the clip.
As anyone who uses TikTok regularly will know, the app’s algorithm is rather quick when it comes to banning content it believes may be inappropriate.
As such, users will regularly misspell words on purpose, i.e. ‘die’ may be written as ‘d!3’, or they may state in the video description that the footage is being uploaded by an adult in order to ensure that their videos are not automatically removed.
It is unclear whether footage of the split face diving accident has been uploaded to TikTok and instantly removed, or if users have just preemptively not uploaded the footage whatsoever, in order to avoid being banned from uploading to the app.
As previously mentioned, this is not the first time the face split diving clip has been discussed online, though many may not realise how old the clip actually is.
Having first been uploaded to a blog way back in October 2009, it is believed that the clip first became something of a viral talking point on Reddit some 12 years ago.
Despite being 13 years old now, there is still very little known about the face split clip beyond the fact the diver is supposedly from Beirut, Lebanon. Some have speculated that the footage may be altered or completely fake, though that is also unconfirmed.
Why the discussion around the clip seems to have reignited on TikTok so long after the incident, however, remains a bit of a mystery.
How to report TikTok videos
To report videos on TikTok, users need to do the following:
- Click on the white arrow (the share button) to the right of the video
- Tap the icon that says ‘report’ with a flag symbol
- Report the content
If you receive messages related to the trend, please don’t interact. Instead, report the accounts immediately.
