The parents of four British teenagers have sued TikTok over the deaths of their children, who believe their children died after taking part in viral trends that circulated on the video-sharing platform in 2022.
The lawsuit claims Isaac Kenevan, Archie Battersbee, Julian “Jools” Sweeney and Maia Walsh died while attempting the so-called “blackout challenge”.
It accuses TikTok of pushing dangerous pranks and challenge videos to children to boost engagement time on the platform.
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Social Media Victims Law Centre filed lawsuit against ByteDance
The US-based Social Media Victims Law Centre (SMVLC), said it had filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the video-sharing platform and its parent firm, ByteDance, on behalf of the families.
TikTok has been blocking searches for a specific challenge since 2020, redirecting users to its Safety Centre instead.
According to the firm, the platform’s policy prohibits hazardous content and challenges, ensuring a safer environment for its users.
The lawsuit has been filed in Delaware Superior Court on behalf of four families claiming that the deaths were “the foreseeable result of ByteDance’s engineered addiction-by-design and programming decisions”, which were “aimed at pushing children into maximizing their engagement with TikTok by any means necessary”.
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It accuses ByteDance of having “created harmful dependencies in each child” through its design and “flooded them with a seemingly endless stream of harms”.
“These were not harms the children searched for or wanted to see when their use of TikTok began,” it claims.
Ellen Roome advocates for “Jools’ Law”
Ellen Roome, who believes her 14-year-old son Jools died after participating in a TikTok challenge, is advocating for “Jools’ Law”.
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This proposed law would allow parents to access their deceased child’s social media accounts. Ellen warns that TikTok is not just “silly dances and challenges” but also contains harmful content, emphasizing the importance of parental awareness and involvement.
She advises parents to “get their children to show them their phone” to better understand their online activities.
(With inputs from agencies)