TikTok says ‘blackout challenge’ data of 4 dead British children may have been deleted

The families of the victims have sued the app for pushing dangerous prank to boost engagement on the platform

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Parents of children who died after a TikTok challenge in the UK have sued the platform for promoting dangerous content. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:10pm, 11 Feb 2025

Data from the TikTok accounts of four British children who their parents believe died after attempting a challenge on the platform may have been deleted, an executive from the firm has said.

The families of the children, all aged 12 to 14 – have sued TikTok and its parent firm ByteDance in the United States in an effort to force the firm to release their children’s data.

The wrongful death lawsuit claims the four died attempting a so-called “blackout challenge”, and said they want access to their children’s account data to “get answers” about how they died.

But Giles Dennington, senior government relations manager at TikTok, told BBC Radio 5 Live “there are some things we simply don’t have”.

After the lawsuit against TikTok was filed last week, Ellen Roome, mother of a 14-year-old who died, told the PA news agency that she had been trying to obtain her son’s data from TikTok as she “just wants answers” about his death and the data was “the only piece that we haven’t looked at”.

Roome said she had been “shocked” to learn that she “wasn’t entitled” to her son’s data, and was told by TikTok that a court order was required to release it.