Latest news with #ArchieBattersbee
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Yahoo
British families sue TikTok over ‘blackout challenge' child deaths
TikTok is being sued by the families of four British children who died during a 'blackout challenge' craze that went viral on social media in 2022. The families of Archie Battersbee, Isaac Kenevan, Julian 'Jools' Sweeney and Maia Walsh have taken legal action against the technology giant, which is owned by China's Bytedance, in a wrongful death lawsuit filed in the US. It is believed to be the first time British parents have sued TikTok in this manner. The children, aged between 12 and 14, all died after passing out. They are believed to have suffered fatal injuries while copying a so-called 'blackout challenge'. Matthew Bergman, a lawyer at the Social Media Victims Law Center, which is representing the families, said: 'TikTok's algorithm purposely targeted these children with dangerous content to increase their engagement time on the platform and drive revenue.' Lawyers for the families claimed TikTok was a 'dangerous and addictive product that markets itself as fun and safe for children, while lulling parents into a false sense of security'. TikTok has banned blackout challenge videos since 2020 and blocks searches or hashtags related to the videos. It also bars other dangerous pranks from its app. The company declined to comment. Archie, 12, from Essex, died in 2022 after he was found non-responsive by his mother on April 7. He was taken off life support in August that year after a legal battle by his mother to keep him alive. She did not know he was using TikTok at the time of the incident. She believes he had attempted the blackout challenge, although a coroner did not find any evidence he was copying something he had seen online. His death was ruled a 'prank or experiment' gone wrong. Isaac, 13, died in March 2022 at his home in Essex. Lawyers for the family said his parents had believed the app was 'a fun, silly, and safe platform designed for kids and young people'. They later found videos on his phone in which he attempted to pass out. Julian Sweeney, 14, from Cheltenham, died on April 13, 2022. Her family has campaigned for access to her child's data in what has been dubbed 'Jools' Law'. Maia, 13, also from Essex, started using social media under her father's supervision, but lawyers for the family say she 'quickly became hooked on TikTok and began having trouble sleeping'. A police investigation into her death in October 2022 is ongoing. Her father says she was targeted with dangerous challenge and self-harm videos in the days leading to her death. The lawsuit, filed in Delaware, alleges the deaths of the children were the 'foreseeable result of ByteDance's engineered addiction-by-design and programming decisions'. It alleges they were bombarded with an 'endless stream of harms'. It said these were 'not harms the children searched for or wanted to see when their use of TikTok began'. The legal claim is thought to be the first time British families have sued TikTok through the US courts over the death of a child. TikTok, Meta, Snapchat and other social media companies have been hit by hundreds of legal claims by US families and schools, alleging their products are defective and cause harm to children. The companies are fighting the cases. TikTok narrowly avoided being blocked in the US in January, after President Donald Trump granted it a reprieve on a law that would have barred the app from US smartphone stores over national security concerns due to its China links. The company has always denied posing a security risk. In 2021, TikTok strengthened its rules around online challenges to automatically detect and block more potentially dangerous content. In its online rules, TikTok says: 'The majority [of challenges] are fun and safe, but some promote harmful behaviours including the risk of serious injury. Our Community Guidelines prohibit dangerous challenges.' While most online 'challenge' videos which go viral on social media are mundane or silly, a study commissioned by TikTok found around one in 50 teenagers had taken part in a 'dangerous' online challenge and around one in 300 had taken part in a 'really dangerous' challenge. There have also previously been hoax challenges, which have been picked up by the media and seen false claims spread online. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Yahoo
British families sue TikTok over ‘blackout challenge' child deaths
TikTok is being sued by the families of four British children who died during a 'blackout challenge' craze that went viral on social media in 2022. The families of Archie Battersbee, Isaac Kenevan, Julian 'Jools' Sweeney and Maia Walsh have taken legal action against the technology giant, which is owned by China's Bytedance, in a wrongful death lawsuit filed in the US. It is believed to be the first time British parents have sued TikTok in this manner. The children, aged between 12 and 14, all died after passing out. They are believed to have suffered fatal injuries while copying a so-called 'blackout challenge'. Matthew Bergman, a lawyer at the Social Media Victims Law Center, which is representing the families, said: 'TikTok's algorithm purposely targeted these children with dangerous content to increase their engagement time on the platform and drive revenue.' Lawyers for the families claimed TikTok was a 'dangerous and addictive product that markets itself as fun and safe for children, while lulling parents into a false sense of security'. TikTok has banned blackout challenge videos since 2020 and blocks searches or hashtags related to the videos. It also bars other dangerous pranks from its app. The company declined to comment. Archie, 12, from Essex, died in 2022 after he was found non-responsive by his mother on April 7. He was taken off life support in August that year after a legal battle by his mother to keep him alive. She did not know he was using TikTok at the time of the incident. She believes he had attempted the blackout challenge, although a coroner did not find any evidence he was copying something he had seen online. His death was ruled a 'prank or experiment' gone wrong. Isaac, 13, died in March 2022 at his home in Essex. Lawyers for the family said his parents had believed the app was 'a fun, silly, and safe platform designed for kids and young people'. They later found videos on his phone in which he attempted to pass out. Julian Sweeney, 14, from Cheltenham, died on April 13, 2022. Her family has campaigned for access to her child's data in what has been dubbed 'Jools' Law'. Maia, 13, also from Essex, started using social media under her father's supervision, but lawyers for the family say she 'quickly became hooked on TikTok and began having trouble sleeping'. A police investigation into her death in October 2022 is ongoing. Her father says she was targeted with dangerous challenge and self-harm videos in the days leading to her death. The lawsuit, filed in Delaware, alleges the deaths of the children were the 'foreseeable result of ByteDance's engineered addiction-by-design and programming decisions'. It alleges they were bombarded with an 'endless stream of harms'. It said these were 'not harms the children searched for or wanted to see when their use of TikTok began'. The legal claim is thought to be the first time British families have sued TikTok through the US courts over the death of a child. TikTok, Meta, Snapchat and other social media companies have been hit by hundreds of legal claims by US families and schools, alleging their products are defective and cause harm to children. The companies are fighting the cases. TikTok narrowly avoided being blocked in the US in January, after President Donald Trump granted it a reprieve on a law that would have barred the app from US smartphone stores over national security concerns due to its China links. The company has always denied posing a security risk. In 2021, TikTok strengthened its rules around online challenges to automatically detect and block more potentially dangerous content. In its online rules, TikTok says: 'The majority [of challenges] are fun and safe, but some promote harmful behaviours including the risk of serious injury. Our Community Guidelines prohibit dangerous challenges.' While most online 'challenge' videos which go viral on social media are mundane or silly, a study commissioned by TikTok found around one in 50 teenagers had taken part in a 'dangerous' online challenge and around one in 300 had taken part in a 'really dangerous' challenge. There have also previously been hoax challenges, which have been picked up by the media and seen false claims spread online. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
The Guardian
07-02-2025
- The Guardian
TikTok sued over deaths of children said to have attempted ‘blackout challenge'
The parents of four British teenagers have sued TikTok over the deaths of their children, which they claim were the result of the viral 'blackout challenge'. The lawsuit claims Isaac Kenevan, 13, Archie Battersbee, 12, Julian 'Jools' Sweeney, 14, and Maia Walsh, 13, died in 2022 while attempting the 'blackout challenge', which became popular on social media in 2021. The US-based Social Media Victims Law Center filed the wrongful death lawsuit against social media platform TikTok and its parent company ByteDance on behalf of the children's parents on Thursday. Matthew Bergman, the founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center, said: 'It's no coincidence that three of the four children who died from self-suffocation after being exposed to the dangerous and deadly TikTok blackout challenge lived in the same city and that they all fit a similar demographic. '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.' According to TikTok, searches for videos or hashtags related to the challenge have been blocked since 2020. The platform says it prohibits dangerous content or challenges, and aims to remove these before they are reported as well as directing those who search for hashtags or videos to its safety centre. The complaint was filed in the superior court of the state of Delaware on behalf of Archie's mother, Hollie Dance, Isaac's mother, Lisa Kenevan, Jools's mother, Ellen Roome, and Maia's father, Liam Walsh. The lawsuit accuses TikTok of being 'a dangerous and addictive product that markets itself as fun and safe for children, while lulling parents into a false sense of security'. It says that TikTok 'pushes dangerous prank and challenge videos to children based on their age and location in order to increase engagement time on the platform to generate higher revenues'. The lawsuit further claims that TikTok has told lawmakers around the world that the blackout challenge had never been on its platform and 'works to discount credible reports of children being exposed to and dying'. It notes that other dangerous challenges that have been found on TikTok include those involving medications, hot water and fire. The firm states that parents believed that TikTok was a 'fun, silly and safe platform designed for kids and young people', and claims that the children involved were 'confident' and 'well-behaved', and did not have prior mental health problems. The Social Media Victims Law Center represents families who believe their children have been harmed by social media, and has filed several other harm lawsuits against TikTok over the deaths of children and young adults, including for promoting videos showing suicide, self-harm and eating disorder content. The law firm helped Tawainna Anderson sue the platform in 2022 after her 10-year-old daughter, Nylah, died after allegedly taking part in the blackout challenge. A US appeals court overturned a lower court's dismissal of her case in August 2024. In February last year, a coroner ruled that Battersbee had 'died as a result of a prank or experiment gone wrong' at his home in Southend-on-Sea. He said he could not rule out the blackout challenge but noted that there were 'hundreds of other possibilities'. Sweeney's mother, Roome, has campaigned for parents to be given the legal right to access their child's social media accounts to help understand why they died, after she was left with no clues as to why her son had died in 2022. Changes to the Online Safety Act, which come into force in the UK this year, explicitly requires social media companies to protect children from encountering dangerous stunts and challenges on their platforms, as well as proactively prevent children from seeing the highest-risk forms of content.
The Independent
07-02-2025
- The Independent
Archie Battersbee's family join bereaved parents to sue TikTok after children's deaths
Archie Battersbee's mother has said she remains trapped in a 'living hell' as she and three other families sue TikTok over videos they claim are linked to their children's deaths. The lawsuit claims that the 12-year-old, alongside Isaac Kenevan, Julian 'Jools' Sweeney, 14; and Maia Walsh all died from injuries suffered after taking part in online challenges in 2022 and demands access to their children's social media accounts. 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, in the US state of Delaware. It accuses TikTok of pushing dangerous prank and challenge videos to children to boost engagement time on the platform. Speaking to The Independent, Hollie Dance said: 'I always had this naive view that I'd wrapped my kids in cotton wool and no one could harm them. I didn't realise that by giving them a phone, I was letting the danger into my own home.' Archie was found unconscious at the family home in Southend-on-Sea on 7 April 2022 and died four months later in hospital after a lengthy legal battle over the removal of his life support care. An inquest found that he had died accidentally following a 'prank or experiment' that went wrong, and that he 'hadn't intended to harm himself'. It was discovered that he had been watching TikTok before the incident, but despite both his family and Essex Police's requests to the company for them to obtain the data from his accounts, it has been refused. Ms Dance had no knowledge her son had created a TikTok account, and later discovered his usernames through Archie's school friends. Her son gave no indication he was watching dangerous content aside from one comment in which he said he could make himself unconscious, which she now says was a 'huge red flag'. 'As time goes on, the anger starts to kick in and you think 'what the hell has my child watched and why won't you give me his data?'' she said. 'How are you supposed to start your grieving when you have unanswered questions? I am in constant fight mode, I have my days when I'm very low but generally I'm turning the pain into fight. 'I had no idea this kind of thing happened and I can prevent any other parent going through what I'm suffering, I will do everything in my power to do so.' Reflecting on the past two years, she said: 'It's a living hell, every day is heartbreaking. The heart of the home has been ripped out. In bed every night I feel like my little boy should be here and I just think what the hell has happened.' 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 said 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'. '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.'
