Mugshot challenge: what is the controversial TikTok trend sparking a backlash against influencers?

Many people have considerable time on their hands at this time. It’s only natural, then, that social media is among the most go-to source of entertainment, leaving our feeds flooded with challenge after challenge as persons try to discover a way to pass the time.

However the latest viral TikTok challenge has sparked controversy online, landing several high-profile influencers in warm water with followers.

The "mugshot challenge" tasks users with making themselves up as though they were having a police mugshot taken, with many persons choosing to don faux black eyes or bloodied lips. They often times pose with tear stained eye make-up and messy hair, insinuating that they had been involved in a violent encounter.

The likes of James Charles, Hype House’s Avani Gregg and Vlog Squad’s Corinna Kopf have all taken part in the task, the hashtag that has been viewed a lot more than 155 million times on the video-sharing social media platform. However they are now facing backlash with persons claiming the task is glamorising violence.

Many social media users said they found the task “triggering”, and called for images to be removed.

In response to Charles’s attempt at the task, one user wrote: “I don’t realize why this would be considered a trend. I love James but it’s not fun having that person bruised and not being able to cover them up. Maybe I’m being too sensitive but this made me feel really uncomfortable because I couldn’t take mine off. It made me feel so dehumanised.”

Charles, who has more than five million followers, compared the image to scenes of a bloodied nose in a music video by Billie Eilish and cover art from The Weeknd’s latest album.

However, he has now deleted the image, saying “even though a huge selection of other influencers and artists did something similar, I deleted the mugshot trend since it was never my intention to trigger anyone & it's a waste of time trying with an open discussion with persons who hate me regardless".

Kopf in addition has subsequently deleted the image from her social media.

The challenge has also sparked backlash from persons who've been arrested and had real mugshots used the past. “This is simply not funny,” wrote one user. “This is a genuine low point in my own life.”