A group of British parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, alleging their children died after participating in viral TikTok challenges in 2022. 

The lawsuit, brought by the U.S.-based Social Media Victims Law Center, was filed in Delaware’s Superior Court on February 6, 2025.

According to the BBC, the complaint, filed on behalf of four families, claims that the deaths were “the foreseeable result of ByteDance’s engineered addiction-by-design and programming decisions.” It further accuses ByteDance of creating “harmful dependencies” and promoting dangerous content through its algorithm.

TikTok, however, asserts that it prohibits harmful challenges and content on its platform. Since 2020, the company has reported blocking certain challenge-related searches and directing users to its Safety Centre for resources on safe platform use.

Parliamentary Action and Data Access

Ellen Roome, whose 14-year-old son Jools allegedly died after participating in an online challenge, is advocating for “Jools’ Law,” legislation that would grant parents access to their deceased children’s social media accounts. The BBC notes the proposed law was debated in the British Parliament on January 13, 2025.

The lawsuit has emerged as TikTok faces regulatory scrutiny in the United States, where President Trump has extended the deadline for a potential ban unless the company is sold to another firm.

A January 2024 coroner’s report concluded that one of the children, 12-year-old Archie Battersbee, died following a “prank or experiment” at home in Southend-on-Sea in April 2022, noting no evidence of online challenge participation.

The Social Media Victims Law Center previously represented Tawainna Anderson in a similar case after her 10-year-old daughter’s death. In August 2024, a U.S. appeals court overturned the dismissal of Anderson’s case against the platform.

TikTok announced in 2021 that it would enhance its detection and enforcement of rules regarding dangerous online challenges. The platform has faced multiple lawsuits from parents alleging harmful content recommendations to their children.

The families seek access to platform data that could provide insight into the circumstances surrounding their children’s deaths.