Five British families sue TikTok over deaths of their children in landmark US case
Five British families are suing TikTok over the deaths of their children in a landmark US case.
The parents, who will attend the hearing in Delaware on Friday, will be the first families in the UK to sue the company in an American court over the death of their children.
Ellen Roome, Lisa Kenevan and Liam Walsh join on behalf of the families, with Ms Roome saying “parents should not have to cross continents to battle multinational tech companies to find out what happens to their children after they die”.
The lawsuit alleges that TikTok’s algorithms encourage and amplify dangerous content aimed at children, including material called the “Blackout Challenge.” The families claim that this content contributed to their children’s deaths and that the company repeatedly refused to release the data needed to understand what their children were exposed to in the critical period before their deaths.
Ms Roome, who believes her 14-year-old son Jools died after taking part in an online challenge in April 2022, previously said: Independent: “In light of what happened, I learned a lot about online activities that I was previously very naive about.
“I thought Jools was gleefully watching silly dance videos or harmless challenges like standing on her hands and pulling her shirt upside down. Now I know there is a lot of harmful and illegal content out there. [Online safety law changes] I can’t come soon enough. “I don’t want any other family to go through what we have to go through for the rest of our lives.”
Friday’s hearing will be a Motion to Dismiss, a key procedural phase of the case, because if it fails the case will go to Discovery, where TikTok could be legally forced to disclose internal records and children’s account data.
They say TikTok has yet to provide this information, despite numerous requests from grieving families.
Independent He took to TikTok to comment.
As well as the case in the US, Ms Roome is campaigning for the Jools Act in the UK, which would see a child’s online data automatically protected immediately after their death. The aim is to prevent the permanent loss of potentially critical evidence in the early stages of investigations and investigations.
An amendment reflecting this proposal has been introduced by Baroness Beeban Kidron to the Crime and Policing Bill, which is currently before parliament and will be debated in the House of Lords later this month.
Ms Roome said: “When a child dies, parents should not have to cross continents to fight multinational technology companies just to find out what happened to their child. We are joining this hearing because data is being withheld that could explain our children’s deaths. If the platforms have nothing to hide, they should publish the data.”
The families say this hearing is a “pivotal moment” for grieving families seeking truth, accountability and systemic change, and could set an important precedent for how social media companies are held accountable for harm done to children.
This comes as global concerns grow about the impact of algorithm-driven social media on children and the role of recommendation systems in promoting harmful content.
The case will be watched closely by UK and international policymakers as governments consider stronger regulation and accountability for technology companies operating on a large scale, as calls grow for young people to be better protected online.
