To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the implications of the litigation brought by bereaved British parents against TikTok following the deaths of their children.
We are aware of the case brought in the United States. No parent should have to go through what these parents have. Our deepest sympathies are with those affected. We have commenced powers through the Online Safety Act to require information from services about a child’s online activity in the tragic event of their death. We have also established a data preservation process to ensure that services preserve relevant data. We are committed to making those powers work effectively.
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for her reply. Ellen Roome is one of a number of bereaved British parents who are suing TikTok. Ellen had been fighting for four years to get access to her son Jools’s social media account after he died performing a TikTok challenge. Digital data that should be preserved as evidence in the critical early period following a child’s death is not being requested and is routinely being deleted or lost. Justice must prevail. Will the Government ensure that there is automatic digital data preservation for every one of these tragedies so that they can be fully investigated?
The Government are aware of calls to make the data preservation process faster. These are new powers and we are actively monitoring the effectiveness of the current process, working closely with Ofcom to do this. We are carefully considering any means that could allow relevant data to be preserved in a timely manner to ensure investigations are well informed and families get the answers they need.
My Lords, the litigation alleges that TikTok’s algorithm deliberately promoted harmful content to children. That is exactly what we originally thought the Online Safety Act was going to help protect our children from, but that appears to be wrong. Will the Government, given their statement of strategic priorities, insert a statutory definition of safety by design and require Ofcom specifically to address addictive algorithms and compulsive design features?
The noble Lord will be aware of the Statement that the Technology Secretary made last week to initiate a short consultation looking at further measures that could be taken, which responds to some of the questions that underlie his question about the nature of social media use and actions that could be taken in response to parental and other requests to deal with it—for example, looking at breaks to stop excessive doomscrolling, or further enforcement of the law. That consultation will take place swiftly before the summer.
My Lords, the noble Baroness says—and I absolutely believe her—that she personally and the Government will do everything they can to address these issues. Is she aware that later today we will debate a group of amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill that would very simply close the gap and ensure that coroners and the police have access to the digital and social media data they need? Those amendments would put an end to the unimaginable pain that families are going through, waiting to find out how and why their children died.
Yes, we are aware of those calls and those measures that have been put forward. We are working closely with Ofcom and the Chief Coroner’s office to understand how those would work. We are closely monitoring this and actively considering options to strengthen the process.
Will the Minister please draw to the attention of her right honourable friend the Secretary of State the following facts about TikTok? In June 2025, TikTok announced that it would expand its investment and presence in the UK, proudly declaring:
“What underpins our continued growth is our deep commitment to safety”.
Two months later, in August, TikTok announced that it was going to fire almost all its content moderation team in the United Kingdom. One of those moderators said that, as part of their daily job, they were told to scrutinise 1,200 videos every working day. Does that give us confidence that TikTok is a company that can be trusted?
All services operating in the United Kingdom must comply with the Online Safety Act. Ofcom is the regulator of online services and, when services fail to comply with the duties under the Act, it has enforcement powers to take action against them. We have made it very clear that Parliament has given those powers to Ofcom and the Government are backing Ofcom to use the measures in its remit to scrutinise the operation of services operating in the UK to provide the right environment for children and all users of social media here.
My Lords, as the mother of a tech-savvy 16 year-old, access to social media is a topic of discussion in our household and among her friends. They do not believe an outright ban will work. Parents who have suffered incredible loss have also voiced differing views on how we keep children safe online, which is why I believe a consultation is the best way to proceed. Can the Minister tell us how the Government will make sure that all views are considered in the consultation?
My noble friend is right to highlight the fact that we all share the objective of a safe online space, but one where children and others can benefit from the digital world and the digital economy. Navigating that and getting the right measures in place was the subject of some debate in this House last week, which showed exactly how defining these parameters and the way in which we proceed will take a short amount of time. On her question about how to ensure that we hear the voices of all, that is exactly what we intend to do during the course of this consultation, particularly the voice of young people.
My Lords, bereaved parents in this case say that they repeatedly warned platforms about dangerous content but were ignored until their children so tragically died. What assurance can the Minister give that victims’ families are now being listened to directly by regulators, rather than having to resort to the courts to be heard?
The noble Baroness makes a point about the effectiveness of the regime as it stands and future developments. As I mentioned, we are looking carefully at how the regime is working currently, at the timeliness of the preservation of data, and at the communication of those steps. As she also knows, further measures will come into force over the coming year or so. Ofcom and others are consulting on measures that will take those further requirements forward for categorised services.
My Lords, the Government are being asked to introduce a legal compulsion to force big tech companies to preserve the relevant data. Why do we not just do it?