Bereaved parents described screaming out in horror as they found their children dead after allegedly taking part in online challenges.
The four British families suing TikTok for the alleged wrongful deaths of their kids have accused the tech giant of having “no compassion”. The lawsuit, filed in the US on Thursday, claims that Isaac Kenevan, 13, Archie Battersbee, 12, Julian “Jools” Sweeney, 14, and Maia Walsh, 13, died while attempting the so-called “blackout challenge”. The viral challenge encourages people to choke themselves until they pass out.
In an emotional group interview on Sunday, Archie’s mother Hollie Dance, Isaac’s mum Lisa Kenevan, Jools’ mother Ellen Roome and Maia’s dad Liam Walsh gave details about finding their children unconscious, or receiving phone calls that they were dead.
Mr Walsh recounted the “haunting” moment Maia asked him if she could download TikTok, adding: “I think approximately six months from that point, she’s dead. The phone rang… and it’s her mum screaming at me: ‘Maia is dead.’ And I screamed.” He added that he had “no faith” that the UK government’s efforts to protect children online would be effective.
Ms Kenevan described having to use a hammer to bash down the door to the room where she found her son unconscious. She accused TikTok of breaching “their own rules”, including not to show or promote dangerous content that could cause significant physical harm. The mum said the families are seeking “accountability” from TikTok and asked of the social media platform bosses, “how can they sleep at night?”
Describing the dreaded day she found her son, Ms Dance said: “On April 7 2022, after we had been out, Archie had left my room very happy – I took a phone call, four minutes 23 seconds later, five steps away from me, I found Archie unresponsive.” A coroner found no evidence Archie had taken part in a blackout challenge and his mum is still searching for answers.
Speaking about the lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance, she said the bereaved families were brushed off with “the same corporate statement” showing “no compassion at all – there’s no meaning behind that statement for them”. She said: “We’re obviously trying to find answers, we’re not sure – I don’t know, but I believe he’s copied some sort of prank from social media.”
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Ms Roome believes her son died from a social media challenge that went wrong but has been blocked by tech firms from accessing his accounts. She said there are “vast similarities about how all four children took their lives in a very similar way, and we all believe it’s something to do with TikTok”. She said she was grateful she was able to pick up the phone to other bereaved parents to share their grief together. “You do have some days particularly bad – when it’s very difficult to function,” she said.
TikTok maintains that it does not allow content that shows or promotes dangerous behaviour. The social media firm proactively finds 99% of content removed for breaking these rules before it is reported to it. The blackout challenge has been blocked on TikTok since 2020.
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