Social media ban 'fantastic' says bereaved mum

A bereaved mother who has campaigned for changes to social media following her son's death has described a government ban for under-16s as "fantastic".

Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X are among the platforms set to be banned for under-16s by spring 2027, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced.

Ellen Roome, from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, believes her 14-year-old son Jools Sweeney died in an online challenge gone wrong in 2022.

"Maybe [the ban] won't be perfect, but if we're protecting some kids, that's better than none and hopefully we can improve things as we go along," Roome said.

"I actually think it's really good news. We've been waiting for so long, they're actually stepping up and doing something and making some changes."

She added: "The devil's gonna be in the detail for how this actually happens."

Roome, who was appointed an MBE in the 2026 New Year Honours list, has been campaigning to get an amendment to the law that would force social media companies to give bereaved parents access to their child's data in the event of their death.

She also travelled to the US with other bereaved British parents to demand better online safety protections for children. They held a protest outside the offices of Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram.

Roome said she wanted reassurances new platforms will be monitored in the future.

"We need to be making sure we're not just naming 10 platforms, that we are looking at specific features," she said.

"What happens if some other company pops up? We need to make sure we can control new, developing products that come out so we're trying to stay one step ahead."

Roome said the next generation needed to be re-educated about social media, both in schools and by their parents.

"We've got to educate on why this is happening, and the harm that is there," she said.

"Just as we educate children in an offline world, it's no different, we just need to teach them about online and why this is happening and it's actually doing it to protect them."

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the ban was a "bold" step towards "creating a safer, healthier life online" for children.

"Tech companies have had countless opportunities to keep children safe, yet they have failed to act. That is why we are taking power away from the tech giants and putting it back in parents' hands," she added.

"My driving force has always been to give every child, from every background, the best possible start in life," she said. "That is what these regulations will deliver."

A Snapchat spokesperson said a ban on its platform could push young people onto "less safe platforms" while YouTube said it was a "vital resource" for young people, educators and parents.

"Blanket bans push kids out of such curated, supervised, beneficial experiences and towards anonymous, less safe services," the YouTube spokesperson added.

A spokesperson for Meta said they do not think a ban will achieve the goal of keeping teens safe online.

"As we've seen in Australia, bans risk isolating teens from online communities and information, and driving them to unregulated alternatives that lack built-in protections and parental controls," the spokesperson said.

They said restrictions should be "underpinned by an age verification system on devices" so that people are not asked to "hand over ID to dozens of individual services".

The company said it "share[s] the goal of keeping teens safe online", adding that its teen accounts automatically limit who can contact children and the content they see.

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