#fallingstarschallenge2018: Not as gross as Blue whale, but crazy enough

The Falling Stars Challenge 2018 has become a nuisance for authorities in China

What: The Falling Stars Challenge 2018 is the latest addition to a collection of crazy, viral hashtags that routinely engulf the world of social media. To carry out this challenge, people post pictures of themselves lying face down as though they have just fallen over. The pictures are clicked in a way that shows the “falling star” lying down, surrounded by the very expensive possessions; jewellery, gadgets, makeup, rolls of cash, you have it all. Yachts, luxury cars and private planes feature in these posts as another important marker of wealth. 

Where: The challenge has been popular on social media platforms like Instagram and Sina Weibo, a Chinese microblogging website that is probably the largest and most popular social media platform in China. 

When: Like most other content on the internet, the origin of this challenge is not clear and difficult to trace. What is known is that it is of Russian origin. According to some, it all started in August when an Instagram user appeared to have fallen off a private jet. But most sources attribute the origin of this hashtag to DJ Smash, a Russian house and electronic music artiste, who posted a picture of himself lying flat on a red carpet, with a private jet in the background. He also has a song named “Falling Down”, which was released in 2014. 

How: Since it started, Russian rich kids have been posting pictures of themselves in their pits of indulgence. While the trend gathered traction globally, China took it to another level. Today in China there are over a million posts carrying the hashtag, #fallingstarschallenge2018. While most of the posts were initially about flaunting luxury, they increasingly became about the struggles of day-to-day life. Now, people are getting clicked falling out of public transport vehicles, surrounded by vegetables. Some are using this hashtag to post about what they like doing such as lying flat in a gym surrounded by dumbbells and other equipment. The flaunt-your-riches challenge has also been parodied by including infants and pets to the challenge as babies sleep in pools of unused diapers and milk bottles.

Now: This trend faced a lot of backlash as it became increasingly popular among young millionaires who began using this as an opportunity to reveal their riches. As they nominated each other to carry out the challenge, the inequality in the world became starker as people began to one-up the person who had nominated them. While the Kiki Challenge proved fatal for some, this challenge has become a nuisance for authorities in China as people are being fined for traffic violations while trying to carry out this challenge on the streets. According to The South China Morning Post, a woman was fined in Shanghai when she fell out of her Aston Martin. While the fine wouldn't really make a dent on someone who owns an Aston Martin, it is an approach to curb the menace of these viral hashtags that have the potential to turn ugly. What is interesting about this trend is that even though China was one of the first places where it became extremely popular, it was also the origin of posts that celebrated the quotidian, with people tumbling down with vegetables and books — moving away from riches and addressing the rags.