False: Avicii was murdered because he was working on a documentary to expose a global child trafficking ring.

The context

Several videos on TikTok claimed that the musical artist Avicii (Tim Bergling), along with other celebrities like Chester Bennington, Anthony Bourdain, and Chis Cornell did not die by suicide, but were murdered. Their deaths are said to be because of their supposed work on The Silent Children, a documentary about global sex trafficking and pedophilia. According to the claim, the celebrities worked on the movie and then died within 24 months. In the video, the lyrics and imagery in Avicii's music video “For a better day” are taken as evidence that Avicii knew what was going on and was trying to send a coded message about the crimes, but was killed by “higher powers” before he could finish the film. The video also claimed that the hacker collective Anonymous provided evidence that Avicii did not die by suicide, but the video does not show this evidence. 

The facts

False rumors emerged shortly after Avicii's death by suicide on April 20, 2018. By 2020 the story evolved and became connected to the deaths of other celebrities, and to the documentary The Silent Children. Reuters published an extensive fact check on the claim, concluding it to be false. None of the actors and musicians mentioned in the TikTok video worked on The Silent Children, produced by Liz Beane, and the rumor was debunked by a representative of the film. The project was later abandoned due to lack of funding and only produced a promo film. 

In the documentary Avicii: True Stories, Bergling speaks openly about his struggles with mental health. He retired from touring in 2016, but his mental and physical health had been deteriorating for a long time. This has been further emphasized in Måns Mosesson's biography of Avicii, “Tim - The Official Biography of Avicii,” in which Månssons gained access to his private journal and interviewed several important individuals close to him. Tim Bergling's parents have, since the death of their son, created The Tim Bergling Foundation to spread awareness and work for suicide prevention. The police report from Bergling’s death in Oman confirm there was no suspicion of foul play. 

Verdict

Videos with the same narrative about different celebrities have surfaced on YouTube and other social media over the years. As such, this is an old narrative attached to a new celebrity, and this time it surfaced on TikTok. There is no evidence any of the celebrities were involved with the film’s production, and the film stopped production for unrelated reasons. Aviici died by suicide in Oman. Therefore we mark this claim false.