In the US, a 16-year-old girl was rescued from a kidnapper after she asked for help with a viral gesture from TikTok.

Kentucky State Police have arrested 61-year-old James Herbert Brick on suspicion of kidnapping a 16-year-old North Carolina girl, NBC News reports.

The girl, whose name is not officially disclosed, went missing on November 2. Two days later, 911 received a call from a man who happened to spot a girl in the back seat of a silver Toyota asking for help with gestures that had become popular on Tiktok.

She would show her palm to people, and then bend her thumb and clench it into a fist. This gesture, coined by the Canadian Women's Fund , means that a person needs help or is experiencing domestic violence. With the onset of the pandemic, it began to be promoted, including through tiktok, due to the risks of an increase in cases of domestic violence during the period of self-isolation.

After Brik was detained, the girl said that he kidnapped her and drove her through the states of North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio.

The suspect has been charged with unlawful imprisonment and possession of child pornography. Pictures of a "underage in a sexual manner" were found on his phone.