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Social media ban would have saved my son, mother says

Caroline Gall,West Midlandsand
Elliot Webb,BBC Hereford and Worcester
BBC Louise is sitting on a red sofa in BBC Breakfast studios holding a photo of her son. She has a black jacket on and shoulder length brown hair.BBC
Louise Gibson has joined other parents in their lawsuit against TikTok

The mother of an 11-year-old boy thought by his family to have died while attempting an online "blackout challenge" has said she believes he would still be alive if a social media ban had been in place.

Louise Gibson said her son Noah was found by his brother in his room at their home in Kidderminster, in Worcestershire, in 2021 after "a TikTok challenge that had gone wrong".

She joined four other families suing TikTok in October after the deaths of their children, but said she welcomed news of a ban for under-16s as it would save children's lives and ease pressure on parents.

A TikTok spokesperson said the firm "strictly prohibit content that promotes or encourages dangerous behaviour".

Responding to news of the government's ban on social media access for under-16s, Gibson said: "I do believe that if people were making this noise and taking a stand back in 2021, then I wouldn't have allowed Noah to have social media."

She had allowed him to have access to it through Covid and lockdown, in part due to him saying his friends had it and he wanted to join in with them.

Family A boy in dark-framed glasses, in a dark hoodie, with a blue rucksack on his ban. In the background there is a hedge and fencing surrounding a houseFamily
Noah was found by his brother in his room at their home in December 2021

"It [the ban] will help massively and it will help parents just as much," Gibson said.

"It will help their anxiety, because you don't know what's going on.

"I'd always taught Noah about stranger danger but that was outside the home, not inside.

"If it saves one child then it's a bonus and it's definitely going to save more than that."

The ban would take effect in early 2027, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Monday and cover platforms including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X.

Gibson and other parents who have lost their children and blame social media are part of a lawsuit filed in the US by the Social Media Victims Law Centre.

They want to obtain data from TikTok and its parent company ByteDance, which they believed could provide clarity around the deaths.

"That's why we're suing so we can get to discovery - so us as parents can get all that information from their data," Gibson added.

Family Noah and his mother are standing outside, possibly on an ice rink, and resting near a railing. Louise has her arm around her son and stands behind him. She is wearing a blue jacket. Noah is smiling and has a grey jacket on.Family
Louise Gibson said she and other families wanted clarity around the deaths of their loved ones

TikTok is bidding to dismiss the filing because the court has no jurisdiction over defendants mainly based in the UK and that established US law, like the First Amendment of the US Constitution, bars liability for third-party content hosted on the platform.

Gibson said there were a few court cases under way in the US involving social media companies and it was a "waiting game to see what was going to happen with ours".

Speaking on BBC Breakfast earlier she said she hoped the UK could lead the way on implementing the ban.

The UK should "get the restrictions in place" and "tighten the algorithms", she added.

"It would be great to be world-leading on this front."

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