MPs are today debating Jools’ Law, a proposal put forward by a mother whose 14-year-old son died in 2022.
The proposed legislation is being debated in the House of Commons and if it did become UK law, social media companies – such as Instagram and Tiktok – could be forced to hand over data to families, after young users have tragically died.
What is Jools’ Law?
Jools’ Law is named after Jools Sweeney, a 14-year-old who was found dead in his bedroom in April 2022. A coroner found Jools had taken his own life but his mother, Ellen Roome, has said her son had no mental health issues offline and wasn’t being bullied.
She believes her son could have died after taking part in an online challenge gone wrong, but has been unable to ascertain if this is the case, as she cannot access data from his social media accounts.
Ms Roome launched her Jools’ Law petition on change.org, where she wrote: “Since my son's death, I have not been able to access information to see what my son was looking at that could have contributed to him taking his own life.
“Parents should have the right to full access to their child's social media accounts either whilst they are still alive (to protect them) or if they die as in my case.”
She’s particularly interested in her son’s Instagram and TikTok accounts but has claimed the companies were “not remotely interested” in her request for her son’s app data.
TikTok has said police did not request the data until 2024, after it had been deleted.
Why is Jools’ Law being debated?
The legislation is being debated thanks to the success of Ms Roome’s online petition, which garnered more than the 100,000 signatures needed for a suggestion to be examined by MPs.
Asked what her message to MPs is, Ms Roome said: “If they lost one of their children, I guarantee you they will be doing what I’m doing, saying they want answers, and they need to really think about that.”
