Four families in the UK have taken a lawsuit in the US against the social media app TikTok alleging wrongful death in the case of their children.
The parents believe that their children died as a result of doing a so-called "blackout challenge" that they had viewed on the app.
It is claimed in the lawsuit that Archie Battersbee, 12, Isaac Kenevan 13, Maia Walsh, 13, and Julian "Jools" Sweeney, 14, died while attempting the challenge.
All four children died in 2022. Three of them died within 45 days of each other.
However, TikTok has insisted that such challenges have been blocked from its platform since 2020.
According to a spokesperson, the app does not "serve search results or hashtags related to this challenge, which means when someone searches #BlackOutChallenge or similar they will be shown a message that directs them to our Safety Centre".
The spokesperson added that the app does "not allow content that shows or promotes dangerous behaviour".
The parents named in the lawsuit, Hollie Dance, mother of Archie, Lisa Kenevan, mother of Isaac, Liam Walsh, father of Maia, and Ellen Roome, mother of Jools, are requesting their children's TikTok data. The parents believe it is essential to find out the truth.
However, a spokesperson for TikTok said that "the law requires companies like ours to delete people's personal data unless it is needed for running a business".
They added that there can also be exceptions where "a company receives a valid request from law enforcement".
TikTok added that safety is its priority and it is investing over $2 billion in safeguarding the platform this year.
Speaking from her home in Essex, Ms Kenevan claimed that it was "no coincidence" that three of the deaths occurred within 45 days of each other.
Ms Dance, who lives a short distance away, believes the children were pushed the content on "the algorithm".
"It's something they've seen in the algorithm. We're living too close together as well," she said.
Lisa agreed and said "it's too much of a coincidence, all in 2022 as well".
Ms Dance laughs when she remembers Archie, saying: "He was definitely a charmer."
Her son was a "sports fanatic" and talented gymnast.
On 7 April 2022, they had just arrived home from a restaurant and were planning on going to the cinema.
Ms Dance was in her room, taking a phone call, when the unimaginable happened.
"The phone call was four minutes, 23 seconds long, and five steps away from me when I walked out of my room Archie was unresponsive," she recalls.
Four months later, after a period on life-support, Archie passed away.
Asked how she would like her son remembered, Ms Dance begins to cry.
"Just for the beautiful little boy that he was. He was funny, he should be here now. He had goals, he had ambitions. He had every intention of being here and I want to know why he's not here and I want TikTok to give me those answers," she said.
Ms Kenevan explains that her son was like "an old soul, always curious".
The day he was found unconscious is forever etched in her memory.
She had arrived home, after collecting Isaac and his sister from school.
When she called him for his dinner, he was in the bathroom upstairs but there was no response.
"I couldn't open the door, so I went running downstairs and I got a hammer from the garage. I went running upstairs and I broke the lock on the door and that's where I found Isaac," she says.
Almost three years on from his death, it is a loss that still makes every day a challenge for both of his parents and older sister.
However, Ms Kenevan believes that Isaac and the other children would be proud of the campaign that their parents are pursuing.
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"I know that Isaac would be saying, yes mum, keep fighting for all these other children. And I promised him that I would never, ever just curl up and go away. I will have a voice. And I promised him that I'll look after his sister and I don't break promises," she insists.
Asked what her advice would be to other parents regarding the use of social media by their children, Ms Kenevan said: "I would say hold off on social media as long as possible. If you stop now when they already have social media, that's going to be even harder.
"I know there is peer pressure in getting smartphones but they don't need social media. Their brains aren't wired properly yet. They don't need to be consumed by all this negativity."
Ms Kenevan believes age strict verification on social media would be a welcome development.
Both Ms Kenevan and Ms Dance, now close friends, regularly visit schools to meet parents in order to promote safer internet use.
