TikTok boss confronted over teen's unexplained death and missing data

TikTok boss confronted over teen's unexplained death and missing dataEllen Roome, who believes her son may have died doing an online challenge, is suing TikTok with other British families whose children died in similar circumstancesCommentsNewsSophie Huskisson Political Correspondent15:29, 14 Apr 2026View 2 ImagesEllen Roome has been fighting for years to get data from the TikTok account of her son Julian “Jools” Sweeney(Image: PA)A TikTok boss has been confronted by an MP over a grieving mum’s battle to get answers about her teenage son’s unexplained death.‌Cameron Thomas, a Liberal Democrat MP, raised the case of Ellen Roome who has been fighting for years to get data from the TikTok account of her son Julian “Jools” Sweeney, 14, who took his own life in 2022.‌Ms Roome, who believes her son may have died doing an online challenge, is suing TikTok with other British families whose children died in similar circumstances.‌In a session in Parliament on Tuesday, Mr Thomas challenged TikTok chief Giles Derrington whether he’d want to know answers if he found his child in the way Ms Roome found her son - unconscious in his bedroom.In a tense moment, Mr Derrington, who is the platform's senior government relations and public policy manager, answered: “Yes.” Pressed why TikTok had not therefore released data to Ms Roome, he said TikTok is required to delete certain information under data protection rules - but refused to say whether Jools’s date was still available.“If I can start by saying I completely empathise with the point you're making about the horror of the situation that occurred,” Mr Derrington told MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee. "We've spoken to Jools’s mother on a number of occasions about this issue. There is an ongoing court case so there's a limit to what I can say, as you'd expect, because it's important that those things play out.‌READ MORE: Lauren Cowell on the heartbreaking reason she wants social m...