A mother's plea for her son who died due to a TikTok challenge

Ellen Room, mother of 14-year-old Jules Sweeney, who is suspected to have died due to a TikTok challenge, is strongly urging the British government to ban social media. She accuses the government of unnecessarily delaying the decision to ban social media for children under 16.

A special discussion is scheduled to take place between British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and family members affected by this issue, and the public consultation being conducted by the government on this matter is also expected to conclude this week. Commenting on the situation, Ellen Room stated that the government should act immediately and make a firm decision, and that she would have no problem even if social media platforms were banned for adults until they are completely safe. She further emphasized that technology companies should invest money to make their systems secure.

Commenting on this, Labour Party Chair Anna Turley stated that the government would take the necessary steps by utilizing this opportunity. However, she pointed out that taking time to conduct a proper public consultation for this is the correct step. She emphasized the strong need to legislate in line with the pace of technology to protect children.

Meanwhile, former Health Secretary Wes Streeting likened social media use to tobacco use, accusing technology companies of being responsible for addicting children to it. He pointed out that there is already sufficient evidence of the negative impact of social media on children's sleep, attention, learning, and mental health. He also cited Australia's model of banning social media for children under 16 as a successful example.

In addition to a complete ban, the government's attention is also focused on imposing age restrictions for features such as livestreaming, location sharing, and infinite scrolling. Furthermore, alternative measures such as controlling special algorithms that provide tailored information to users and mandating screen curfews are also among the issues to be considered in the future.