Bereaved families file US lawsuit against TikTok over access to children's data
Bereaved families have filed a lawsuit against TikTok in the United States over efforts to access their children's social media accounts because they 'want answers' about their deaths.
The Social Media Victims Law Centre (SMVLC), a US-based legal resource for parents of children harmed by social media use, said it had filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the video-sharing platform and its parent firm, ByteDance, on behalf of four families in the UK.
The lawsuit, filed in the US state of Delaware, claims Isaac Kenevan, 13; Archie Battersbee, 12; Julian 'Jools' Sweeney, 14; and Maia Walsh, 13; all died from injuries suffered while taking part in online challenges in 2022.
It accuses TikTok of pushing dangerous prank and challenge videos to children to boost engagement time on the platform.
This is our opportunity to get answers. Its incredibly hard and emotional to lose a child, and this has given us a possibility of understanding exactly what happened that night
Ellen Roome, grieving parent
Jools's mother, Ellen Roome, 48, a businesswoman from Cheltenham, said the families hope to force a response from tech firms on the issue, and that she 'just wants answers' about her son's death
She added that social media firms had so far refused to give her access to her son's accounts, saying a court order was required to do so.
Ms Roome said she had been 'shocked' to learn that she 'wasn't entitled' to Jools's data, and said it was 'the only piece that we haven't looked at, to look at why he took his own life'.
She told the PA news agency that it had been 'horrendously difficult' to 'not understand why' her son had died.
'One day, all of the four children, none of them had mental health issues, it was completely out of the blue, they all decided to take their life – more importantly, I don't think they intended to take their life,' she said.
'This is our opportunity to get answers. Its incredibly hard and emotional to lose a child, and this has given us a possibility of understanding exactly what happened that night.'
Ms Roome has also been campaigning for 'Jools' Law' to give parents the right to access their children's online activity after they die – and the issue was debated in Parliament last month after an online petition for the campaign gained more than 126,000 signatures.
'Without social media companies releasing it, I still don't know what he was looking at, was there somebody weird messaging him? I just don't know,' she told PA.
'So my fight has just been, 'all we want is our children's data'.'
She added: 'I know that I was a loving mum to my son, and I know my son loved me, so I don't really care what everybody else says. I want to know the truth.
'We shouldn't have had to go this far to get our children's data. Why didn't they just say, 'here's the data, I hope you get some closure?', or some sort of answer from it.
'They could have handed this over and said, 'let me help you' – and nobody has ever tried to help us.'
Matthew P Bergman, founding lawyer of the SMVCL, and who represents the families, said: 'TikTok's algorithm purposely targeted these children with dangerous content to increase their engagement time on the platform and drive revenue.
'It was a clear and deliberate business decision by TikTok that cost these four children their lives.'
Asked how she responded after being told the lawsuit had been filed, Ms Roome said: 'Oh my God, we've got a chance to get answers.
'There's an overwhelming excitement of a possible chance of answers, but there's also that underlying grief of 'we're doing this because our children are dead'.
'It's very weird emotions. On the one hand you're pleased, but I don't know how to put it into words … it's difficult, it's been a difficult journey.
'I just feel I want answers. It's my son and I think anybody – those with children and without – can hopefully understand that it's a mother's love.
'I'm not stopping. There's nothing in this world which would stop me. I want answers. This isn't about money or anything like that. I want the answers.'
TikTok has been approached for comment.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Glasgow Times
an hour ago
- Glasgow Times
Police caught 91 under-18s with bladed weapons in 2024, figures show
The new statistics, which come in the wake of the deaths of teenagers Amen Teklay and Kayden Moy, prompted concerns of a 'youth violence epidemic'. The two teenagers both died after allegedly being stabbed in separate incidents this year. Now analysis of Police Scotland stop and search data by the justice and home affairs magazine 1919 showed that in 2024 teenagers accounted for almost a third of positive knife searches across all age groups. The 91 cases of a someone under the age of 18 being caught with a bladed or pointed weapon equate to about one such case every four days. The data revealed a 10-year-old was caught with a knife in the east of Edinburgh in July 2024. Meanwhile, 12-year-olds were caught with bladed weapons in the capital, Glasgow, Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, the magazine reported. In addition, more than a dozen children aged 13 – including two girls – were also found to have such items when searched. David Threadgold, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation said: 'Each one of the truly shocking statistics is a justifiable and evidenced-based reaction by the police to an increasingly concerning societal trend we now see emerging among younger members of our communities in Scotland.' He added: 'Each of these statistics is a real situation which created significant risk for my colleagues, as well as potentially life-changing consequences for the perpetrator, and sadly – as we have seen so tragically across Scotland recently – the victims of knife crime, their families and friends.' Mr Threadgold said that the 'solution to this problem cannot rest alone with the police', arguing for 'much greater and more effective preventative strategies' to be put in place across Scotland. Labour's Pauline McNeill said the figures were are 'yet another sign that there is a youth violence epidemic emerging in Scotland' (Fraser Bremner/Scottish Daily Mail/PA) Scottish Labour justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill said: 'These shocking figures are yet another sign that there is a youth violence epidemic emerging in Scotland.' She added: 'Each one of these 91 cases is very serious for our communities and potentially for those actually carrying the weapon. 'The only way to tackle this effectively is to have early intervention schemes that get to the root cause, and without this we will fail our communities.' Calling for 'urgent action', she insisted the Scottish Government had 'created a perfect storm by cutting youth work services, letting police officer numbers fall, and mismanaging CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) and education'. First Minister John Swinney has already urged youngsters not to carry knives (Andrew Milligan/PA) First Minister John Swinney has already warned youngsters against carrying knives, insisting this is 'dangerous' and 'damaging'. But Scottish Tory community safety spokesperson Sharon Dowey insisted it was 'high time nationalist ministers woke up to the gravity of this situation'. The Conservative MSP said: 'These alarming figures lay bare just how drastically knife crime has spiralled out of control.' She said there needs to be 'meaningful punishments for those who use a knife' along with 'expanded stop-and-search powers for police to act as a deterrent'. However, she claimed: 'The SNP's soft-touch attitude towards justice represents an abject dereliction of duty by John Swinney's government.' A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'Stop and search powers should be used where lawful, necessary and proportionate. Their use in individual cases is an operational matter for Police Scotland. 'Police do use stop and search, and it is one tool to tackle violence alongside a range of other measures such as prevention and education.' Assistant Chief Constable Mark Sutherland of Police Scotland meanwhile said: 'Victims of crime and people right across the country expect us to use all powers at our disposal to keep them safe. 'Stop and search is just one of those powers and one in every three searches leads to the recovery of illicit or harmful items, safeguarding our communities.' Mr Sutherland stressed that 'intelligence-led stop and search is a valuable and effective policing tactic in detecting and preventing crime when it is used lawfully, proportionately and in line with the code of practice, which was introduced in 2017'. This code has a 'dedicated section for children', he added, which provides officers with guidance to be used when when making a decision to stop and search a child. He said: 'We recognise that stopping and searching people is a significant intrusion into their personal liberty and privacy and we remain committed to ensuring that people are treated with fairness, integrity and respect. 'It is also a tactic that enables the service to keep people safe and assist in ensuring the wellbeing of our wider communities.'
Western Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Western Telegraph
Police caught 91 under-18s with bladed weapons in 2024, figures show
The new statistics, which come in the wake of the deaths of teenagers Amen Teklay and Kayden Moy, prompted concerns of a 'youth violence epidemic'. The two teenagers both died after allegedly being stabbed in separate incidents this year. Now analysis of Police Scotland stop and search data by the justice and home affairs magazine 1919 showed that in 2024 teenagers accounted for almost a third of positive knife searches across all age groups. The 91 cases of a someone under the age of 18 being caught with a bladed or pointed weapon equate to about one such case every four days. The data revealed a 10-year-old was caught with a knife in the east of Edinburgh in July 2024. Meanwhile, 12-year-olds were caught with bladed weapons in the capital, Glasgow, Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, the magazine reported. In addition, more than a dozen children aged 13 – including two girls – were also found to have such items when searched. David Threadgold, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation said: 'Each one of the truly shocking statistics is a justifiable and evidenced-based reaction by the police to an increasingly concerning societal trend we now see emerging among younger members of our communities in Scotland.' He added: 'Each of these statistics is a real situation which created significant risk for my colleagues, as well as potentially life-changing consequences for the perpetrator, and sadly – as we have seen so tragically across Scotland recently – the victims of knife crime, their families and friends.' Mr Threadgold said that the 'solution to this problem cannot rest alone with the police', arguing for 'much greater and more effective preventative strategies' to be put in place across Scotland. Labour's Pauline McNeill said the figures were are 'yet another sign that there is a youth violence epidemic emerging in Scotland' (Fraser Bremner/Scottish Daily Mail/PA) Scottish Labour justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill said: 'These shocking figures are yet another sign that there is a youth violence epidemic emerging in Scotland.' She added: 'Each one of these 91 cases is very serious for our communities and potentially for those actually carrying the weapon. 'The only way to tackle this effectively is to have early intervention schemes that get to the root cause, and without this we will fail our communities.' Calling for 'urgent action', she insisted the Scottish Government had 'created a perfect storm by cutting youth work services, letting police officer numbers fall, and mismanaging CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) and education'. First Minister John Swinney has already urged youngsters not to carry knives (Andrew Milligan/PA) First Minister John Swinney has already warned youngsters against carrying knives, insisting this is 'dangerous' and 'damaging'. But Scottish Tory community safety spokesperson Sharon Dowey insisted it was 'high time nationalist ministers woke up to the gravity of this situation'. The Conservative MSP said: 'These alarming figures lay bare just how drastically knife crime has spiralled out of control.' She said there needs to be 'meaningful punishments for those who use a knife' along with 'expanded stop-and-search powers for police to act as a deterrent'. However, she claimed: 'The SNP's soft-touch attitude towards justice represents an abject dereliction of duty by John Swinney's government.' A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'Stop and search powers should be used where lawful, necessary and proportionate. Their use in individual cases is an operational matter for Police Scotland. 'Police do use stop and search, and it is one tool to tackle violence alongside a range of other measures such as prevention and education.' Assistant Chief Constable Mark Sutherland of Police Scotland meanwhile said: 'Victims of crime and people right across the country expect us to use all powers at our disposal to keep them safe. 'Stop and search is just one of those powers and one in every three searches leads to the recovery of illicit or harmful items, safeguarding our communities.' Mr Sutherland stressed that 'intelligence-led stop and search is a valuable and effective policing tactic in detecting and preventing crime when it is used lawfully, proportionately and in line with the code of practice, which was introduced in 2017'. This code has a 'dedicated section for children', he added, which provides officers with guidance to be used when when making a decision to stop and search a child. He said: 'We recognise that stopping and searching people is a significant intrusion into their personal liberty and privacy and we remain committed to ensuring that people are treated with fairness, integrity and respect. 'It is also a tactic that enables the service to keep people safe and assist in ensuring the wellbeing of our wider communities.'
Daily Mirror
4 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Inside Kim Jong-Un's North Korea as smuggled smartphone reveals new scary rule
South Korean slang words are banned in North Korea - and the smartphone even takes an undetected screenshot every five minutes, with the images presumably seen by the Communist government A contraband smartphone from North Korea has laid bare the chilling tactics employed by supreme leader Kim Jong Un to maintain his iron-clad grip over citizens. The seemingly innocuous handset is engineered to suppress any hints of South Korean vernacular and even stealthily snaps a screenshot every five minutes. These covert captures are then stashed away in an inscrutable folder, thought to be monitored by the ruling Communist party. An attempt to input the term "oppa" - a word that nominally means "older brother" in Korean but has gained romantic connotations in modern South Korea - results in an automatic rewrite to "comrade." The user is promptly reprimanded with a pop-up alerting them that "oppa" is strictly for referring to elder siblings. Moreover, typing "South Korea" triggers a shocking autocorrect to "puppet state". The device was sneakily transported out of the Hermit Kingdom by Daily NK, a Seoul-based news outlet, last year and unearthed during a BBC probe, reports the Daily Star. North Korean technology and information specialist Martyn Williams imparted to the UK broadcaster that smartphones have become a crucial tool in Pyongyang's propaganda arsenal. "Smartphones are now part and parcel of the way North Korea tries to indoctrinate people," he revealed. This Stimson Center senior fellow residing in Washington, DC, also cautioned that the cloistered nation is increasingly gaining the upper hand in its informational stranglehold #. Just this year, Kim elevated the stakes by criminalising the usage of South Korean slang or accents as tantamount to high treason. 'Youth crackdown squads' are reportedly patrolling the streets to monitor young North Koreans. Dissident Kang Gyuri, 24, recounted her experiences of being abruptly stopped and scolded for emulating South Korean fashion and hair. Fortunately, she managed to flee the oppressive regime by boat in 2023 and now resides in South Korea. Speaking to the BBC, Kang revealed that the regime's agents would seize her phone to search for any forbidden South Korean terms in her messages. North Korea outlaws all foreign culture, including television, newspapers, and music. Consequently, reports suggest that thousands of USB drives and micro-SD cards packed with South Korean dramas and K-pop tunes are smuggled across the border monthly, concealed within fruit boxes. Kang expressed that it was her eventual discovery of life outside North Korea which spurred her decision to defect. She said: "I felt so suffocated, and I suddenly had an urge to leave. "I used to think it was normal that the state restricted us so much. I thought other countries lived with this control. But then I realised it was only in North Korea."
