Bereaved mum makes pressing plea to Keir Starmer to cease youngsters dying like her son

Ellen Roome, whose 14-year-old son died, praised ministers for ‘stepping up’ but urged them to go faster on online harms – ‘we’ve still got children being harmed and dying now’

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A bereaved mum who believes her son’s death is linked to social media has demanded Keir Starmer implement urgent reforms “now” to stop more children dying.

Ellen Roome, whose 14-year-old son Julian “Jools” Sweeney died in 2022, has achieved a change in the law to automatically preserve a child’s data after their death after years of campaigning.

She said it was “fantastic” ministers were addressing the issue but demanded greater urgency to stop “children dying in the first place”.

Ms Roome, who lives in Cheltenham, told The Mirror: “The fact that they’re stepping up and trying to do something now is fantastic, but we’ve still got children being harmed and dying now. The longer we wait, we’re going to have other things happen to other children.”

Keir Starmer pledged to act in “months, not years” to protect young people from addictive social media platforms. A major three-month consultation will be launched next month, which will gather evidence on whether a social media ban for under 16s, overnight curfews, doom-scrolling restrictions and limiting virtual private networks (VPNs).

READ MORE: Mum seeking answers over son, 14, found dead in bedroom breaks down in 4am phone call

But Ms Roome said there was enough evidence on social media harms already and called on the Government to listen to bereaved parents who had suffered lived experiences. The mum, who believes her son died after an online challenge went wrong, is a fierce supporter of a social media ban for under 16s.

“I don’t agree with this consultation. I think they should just clamp down now,” she said. “We’ve got so much evidence of harm and children being affected by platforms, their mental health, their education, their learning. I don’t see why we need more evidence. Taking it (social media) away might not be perfect at the moment, but I still think it’s better than children being harmed every day on platforms that they shouldn’t be on. Do it now.”

She continued: “If it was a politician that lost a child, it would have happened by now already and I would love to put more politicians in rooms of bereaved parents to listen to their lived experiences. Listen to our stories.”

While Ms Roome backs a social media ban, other bereaved families and experts have warned a ban could bring “unintended consequences” and drive kids into other unregulated spaces on the internet, like chatrooms or gaming platforms.

Ian Russell, whose 14-year-old daughter Molly took her own life in 2017 due to online harms, last month teamed up with more than 40 charities, experts and bereaved parents to oppose the “blunt response” to the internet crisis. Mr Starmer has faced mounting pressure to bring in a social media ban for under 16s after Australia did so last year.

Earlier this month, Spain became the latest European country to make plans for a social media ban, following similar proposals France, Denmark and Austria. During a visit to a community centre in London, Mr Starmer said: “I don’t think there’s a parent in the country who isn’t worried about this, by the way, I really don’t.

“The status quo, things as they are now, is not good enough. Nobody can make the argument that things can be left as they are. They can’t, they’re not protective of children, and we intend to act.”

On a social media ban, the PM said: “There are powerful arguments on both sides. Some people simply say just get all under-16s off social media, and that’s the end of it. NSPCC, obviously an organisation very concerned with children’s protection, says no, it’ll push children to even darker places.

“Others – I was with young people this morning, 15- and 16-year-olds who are actually going to be affected by this – they said to me, look we get our news from social media, we don’t read the papers, and therefore you’ll stop us accessing the news. We need to look at all of this in the round.” He added: “We’ve taken the powers to make sure we can act within months, not years.”

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said a package of online safety laws could be announced each year in the same way tax and finance changes are updated annually in the Budget. She warned new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) are outpacing safety laws.

READ MORE: Should the UK ban social media for under-16s? Take our poll and have your sayREAD MORE: Mum suing TikTok over death of child gives parents chilling warning

“It took us something like almost eight years to pass and implement the Online Safety Act,” Ms Kendall said. “So I think, just like we have a finance bill every year, we’re going to have to start thinking about updating our legislation around technology much more regularly.” The Finance Bill process takes place after a budget to write the Chancellor’s tax plans into law.

It came after ministers earlier today announced they would lose a legal loophole to protect children from harmful interactions with AI chatbots.

While Ms Roome achieved a change in the law to preserve children’s data after their death, unanswered questions remain over her son’s death. Jools was found unconscious in his bedroom in April 2022. An inquest into his death later found he took his own life. The coroner said it was unlikely he intended to do so but that the precise details were unclear.

Ms Roome is suing TikTok with other British families whose children died in similar circumstances. The lawsuit, which was filed last year, claims that Jools, Isaac Kenevan, 13, Archie Battersbee, 12, Maia Walsh, 13, and Noah Gibson, 11, died while attempting the so-called “blackout challenge”.

The viral challenge encourages people to choke themselves until they pass out. TikTok – which is owned by Chinese parent company ByteDance – says the challenge has been blocked on its site since 2020. Ms Roome is trying to get an inquest into his death redone to get data from social media firms, as well as trying to get access to a forensic download of phone data that is thought to be held by the police.

TikTok has insisted it can no longer access the watch or search history from Jools’s social media account as it is required to delete people’s personal data under the law. On her campaign victory, Ms Roome said: “Ultimately it’s taken the loss of my son to get this far. There’s no golden prize here. We’re not going to bring him back so that’s incredibly hard,” she said.

“This law won’t help me but it will help other bereaved parents. But ultimately, we need to stop children from dying in the first place, which means we need to do more with social media harms.”

On the lawsuit, a TikTok spokesman previously told The Mirror: “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 reported to us. As a company, we comply with the UK’s strict data protection laws.”