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Ellen Roome, a mother from Gloucestershire, is among a group of parents taking legal action against TikTok following the tragic deaths of their children. She traveled to the United States to attend the initial hearing of the case, which has been brought forward by the Social Media Victims Law Centre. Roome expressed a strong desire for the social media giant to be held responsible, stating, “It’s about time we held them to account and said ‘what are you showing our children?'”
The lawsuit includes claims concerning the deaths of Roome’s son Julian “Jools” Sweeney, alongside Isaac Kenevan, Archie Battersbee, Noah Gibson, and Maia Walsh, all of whom reportedly lost their lives while attempting the dangerous “blackout challenge.” In response, a TikTok representative emphasized the platform’s strict policies, saying, “We strictly prohibit content that promotes or encourages dangerous behaviour.”
Roome has actively campaigned for new legislation, known as Jools’ Law, which aims to grant parents the right to access their children’s social media accounts in the event of their death. This stems from her attempts to obtain data from TikTok and its parent company ByteDance, which she believes could shed light on the circumstances surrounding her son’s death. Central to the lawsuit filed in Delaware’s Superior Court is the accusation that ByteDance’s design and programming choices intentionally foster addiction among children by maximizing their engagement with TikTok, a tactic alleged to have foreseeably contributed to the children’s fatalities.
Discussing the progress of the case, Roome explained that the current hearing addresses TikTok’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, with the platform seeking to have the case thrown out. However, Roome and her legal team contend that their claims are legitimate and must proceed. If successful in overcoming this motion, the case would advance to the discovery phase, during which TikTok would be compelled to hand over relevant data related to the deceased children—assuming it has not already been deleted.
Roome emphasized that her motivation is not financial gain but a desire for transparency and responsibility from social media companies. She remarked, “I want to see what my child was looking at, and if it is social media, I want accountability.” She further criticized the industry’s tactics, stating, “Social media companies are feeding our children harmful material. They make their products addictive by design so they automatically have hooked in children and adults.” Roome expressed hope for the case’s success, insisting that major corporations need to “actually become accountable and take some responsibility.”
TikTok issued a statement conveying sympathy for the affected families and reiterated their commitment to combatting harmful content on the platform. They detailed efforts including “robust detection systems and dedicated enforcement teams” that remove 99% of content violating their rules before users report it. The spokesperson also clarified TikTok’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that the court lacks jurisdiction over defendants primarily based in the UK. Additionally, they cited established US legal principles, such as the First Amendment, which protect platforms from liability for third-party content hosted on their sites
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
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