We’re suing TikTok to find out why our children died...

AS paramedics frantically worked on 14-year-old Jools Sweeney’s lifeless body, his mum clung to him thinking: “I’m not letting my baby go.”. But in the end, Ellen Roome could only watch in anguish as attempts to save her beloved son failed following what appears to have been an online game gone tragically wrong.

Image Credit: The Sun [Boy sitting on a couch.]

Jools is just one suspected victim of the “blackout challenge” which has spread on TikTok. Still grieving and “barely functioning”, Ellen, 48, from Cheltenham, Gloucs, recalls little about the months after her son’s death in April 2022. But desperate for answers, she sold her mortgage business last year to lead a campaign for Jools’ Law, which would give parents the right to access their children’s online activity if they die unexpectedly.

Image Credit: The Sun [Ellen Roome, mother of Jools Sweeney, sitting on a park bench.]

And Ellen is not alone. She and three other British families who suspect their teenage children died trying to copy the “blackout challenge” in the same year are suing Chinese media giant TikTok, which has more than one billion users, in order to get hold of the data.

Image Credit: The Sun [Photo of Archie Battersbee.]

Having made little progress in the UK, they have turned to an American legal team and the US courts. The other shattered parents, all from Essex, are Lisa Kenevan, 51, whose son Isaac, 13, took part in a blackout challenge-type video; Liam Walsh, 49, whose 13-year-old daughter Maia passed away after viewing disturbing messages; and Hollie Dance, 49, whose son Archie Battersbee, 12, watched a seven-minute TikTok video before his death.

Image Credit: The Sun [Hollie Dance, mother of Archie Battersbee, suing TikTok.]

It was only when they got together that they realised how disturbingly similar the cases are. All four kids were seemingly happy and popular, enjoyed doing TikTok challenges and are believed to have died from asphyxiation. We are not going to describe the means of their deaths because we do not want others to copy them.

Image Credit: The Sun [Boy sitting on grass holding soccer ball.]

But their parents believe more children have already lost their lives in a similar way and are urging affected families to join the civil action. Ellen says: “I’ve been contacted by other families. I think if we bring together more parents, it will help reveal what went on.”.

Image Credit: The Sun [Headshot of Lisa Kenevan.]

Unravelling that mystery drives the campaign. And speaking to the parents, it is clear they will not give up until they have answers. Like many others, Ellen thought TikTok was about fun dances and “silly challenges” when she allowed Jools to download it in lockdown.

Image Credit: The Sun [Photo of Maia Walsh.]

Looking out over the hills where her son used to make dens, she recalls: “He was chirpy. His last words to me were, ‘I love you’. He used to say ‘Best mum ever’ and I’ve replied, ‘Best son ever’.”. Jools, who had no history of self-harm or depression, had played in a boat and toasted marshmallows with pals on the day he died.

Image Credit: The Sun [A man sits on a bench, looking somber.]

At 8.46pm on April 13, 2022, he was laughing as he said goodbye to a friend, yet by the time Ellen returned at 10.30pm, he was lifeless in his bedroom. It is any parent’s worst nightmare and one that Lisa Kenevan knows all too well. On March 8, 2022 — when her son Isaac didn’t come down for dinner — Lisa, from Basildon, who works in sales, found the bathroom door locked and got no reply to her shouts.

Image Credit: The Sun [A hand holding a smartphone displaying the TikTok logo.]

She recalls: “I went downstairs to the garage and got a hammer, then bashed the lock off the bathroom door. And that’s where I found him, unresponsive.”. Lisa tried CPR but neither she nor paramedics could save him. During a search of Isaac’s smartphone, police found three videos — two showing a blackout challenge-type act and another with a TikTok logo on it.

Lisa says: “The coroner said it looks like Isaac has seen something on social media, or he’s been influenced by someone who has seen it.”. Cops only saw that potentially incriminating material as it was stored on Isaac’s electronic devices. They did not get to view all his TikTok browsing history or “for you”, which shows what the social media firm was recommending he see.

This vital information, which should be held on the firm’s servers, is what all four families want. If they get hold of the data, it will tell them whether their children were seeking out dangerous challenges or if TikTok’s algorithms were pushing it to them unsolicited.

That is key following a landmark ruling last August, when a court in the US state of Delaware judged TikTok is liable for its algorithms which promote content to users. Previously, social media firms were immune from prosecution for material produced and uploaded by others.

In the past, they could dodge legal responsibility if clips of blackout challenges had been recommended on TikTok. The Social Media Victims Law Center is representing the British parents, and more than 1,200 others, in social media lawsuits. Their lawyer, Matthew Bergman, claims: “TikTok’s algorithm purposely targeted these children with dangerous content to increase their engagement time on the platform and drive revenue.