Mother of boy, 14, who died in online challenge 'delighted' with social media ban - but says parents need more details
Ellen Roome lost her son in 2022 after suspecting he tried to copy an online challenge on TikTok
The mother of a schoolboy who died after attempting an online challenge has told LBC she welcomes the social media ban for under-16s but said bereaved parents need more clarity on how it will work.
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Ellen Roome's son Jools Sweeney, aged 14, died while doing an online "blackout" challenge at their home in Cheltenham in April 2022.
Ms Roome has since campaigned alongside other bereaved parents for social media restrictions to make the internet a safer place for teenagers.
Sir Keir Starmer announced the ban for under-16s in which he admitted was not something he took "lightly" but said social media was "making it easier for bullies to harass and abuse" children.
Ms Roome, who will be travelling to Westminster this afternoon to hear a debate by MPs, said she was hopeful the ban would have the desired effects. She told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: "I'm delighted with his speech, it was very passionate and informative.
"We need to make sure how this is going to happen, how is this legislation going to come into effect, and when is it going to come into effect.
"It has been reported that highly effective age controls need to be in place and then looking at not just naming the sites but looking at the harmful features, so making sure that algorithmic data being fed to children is removed and stranger contact is again blocked.
"We've got to wait for details, but that's going to be laid out in Parliament this afternoon."
The ban follows Australia who announced their restrictions last year, which has reportedly led to just 40% compliance rate, with youngsters using virtual private networks (VPNs) and other methods to get around it.
But UK government ministers have labelled the ban here an "Australia plus" version with stricter legislation said to be enforced by next Spring.
Ms Roome told Nick she was confident that the results of UK's ban would go further than that in Australia, where ten major platforms have been made prohibited.
They include TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, Facebook, X, Threads, Snapchat, Twitch and Kick.
But the Prime Minister has also announced the UK will impose curfews for accessing online content as well as enforcing restrictions for chatrooms.
Ms Roome joined a group of bereaved families who visited Downing Street last month to urge Sir Keir to impose restrictions.
The Government intends to use highly-effective age assurance (HEAA) measures to make it more difficult for children to dodge the ban.
Those methods could include facial age estimates, photo ID or bank checks according to guidance from regulator Ofcom.
Critics of the Australia ban say it has not gone far enough, with research showing around 60% of children still have access.
But speaking to LBC earlier, US lawyer Matthew Bergman said: "If there are 40% less kids on social media under 16, those are 40% less kids that are being sent suicidal content, anorexic content, and bullying. That's huge.
"If I could tell you that in the UK we could reduce bullying by 40%, you'd say, where do I sign up?
"It's very much to me a glass half full, not a glass half empty. The fact that we may not have 100% compliance, what law do you have 100% compliance to?
"You're never going to have 100% safety. You don't have cars that are 100% safe."
A previous statement from Gloucestershire Constabulary stated: "We supported the Sweeney family and coroner’s office throughout an investigation into the cause of his death.
"As part of this Jools’s phone was given to police and a review of the contents took place, as well as the manual review of a TikTok account. Nothing was found as part of these searches to provide any answers."