Gloucestershire mother Ellen Roome is at the forefront of a landmark lawsuit against TikTok, alleging the social media platform contributed to the deaths of five children, including her son, Julian “Jools” Sweeney.
Parents Sue TikTok, Claiming ‘Blackout Challenge’ Deaths
A group of grieving parents are seeking accountability from TikTok, arguing the platform’s algorithm promoted dangerous content that led to their children’s tragic deaths.
- The lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware, claims TikTok’s design intentionally maximizes user engagement, even at the expense of safety.
- Ellen Roome is also campaigning for “Jools’ Law,” legislation that would grant parents access to their deceased children’s social media accounts.
- TikTok maintains it strictly prohibits content promoting dangerous behavior and proactively removes 99% of such content.
- The case centers around the “blackout challenge,” a dangerous online trend.
- Roome and other parents are seeking to obtain data from TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, to understand the content their children were exposed to.
Roome, who traveled to the united States for the first day of the hearing filed by the Social Media Victims Law Center, stated, “It’s about time we held them to account and said ‘what are you showing our children?'” The lawsuit alleges that Julian sweeney, along with Isaac Kenevan, Archie Battersbee, Noah Gibson, and Maia Walsh, died while attempting the dangerous “blackout challenge.”
What was the “blackout challenge”?– The “blackout challenge” involved participants restricting their breathing until passing out, a practice with possibly fatal consequences.
Jools’ Law– Ellen Roome is advocating for legislation that would allow parents access to their deceased children’s social media accounts.
TikTok’s Response– TikTok argues the Delaware court lacks jurisdiction and cites First Amendment protections, maintaining it removes 99% of prohibited content.
Roome explained that the legal battle isn’t about financial gain. “I want to see what my child was looking at, and if it is social media, I want accountability,” she said. “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.”
The lawsuit argues that ByteDance’s “engineered addiction-by-design and programming decisions” directly contributed to the children’s deaths by prioritizing engagement above all else.roome hopes a accomplished outcome will force social media companies to take obligation for the content they host and its impact on young users.
Currently, TikTok is attempting to have the case dismissed, arguing the Delaware court lacks jurisdiction over the primarily UK-based defendants and citing First Amendment protections against liability for third-party content.A spokesperson for TikTok stated, “Our deepest sympathies remain with these families. We strictly prohibit content that promotes or encourages dangerous behaviour.Using robust detection systems and dedicated enforcement teams to proactively identify and remove this content, we remove 99% that’s found to break these rules before it is indeed reported to us.”
Roome emphasized, “hopefully we’re successful, becuase it’s about time these big companies actually became accountable and took some responsibility. I just don’t feel they’ve got any morals about looking after our children properly.”
