Probe Tiktok over my son’s death, says Archie’s mother

TIKTOK’S role in Archie Battersbee’s death should be examined by the coroner, his mother has said.

The 12-year-old, of Southend, Essex, suffered brain damage thought to have happened after he took part in a social media challenge at his home.

Hollie Dance, Archie’s mother, has told how she found him unconscious at home in Southend-on-sea with a ligature over his head on April 7.

He died in August when his life support was withdrawn at the Royal London Hospital after his parents exhausted all available legal routes in their fight to keep him alive.

The removal of life support by Bart’s Health NHS Trust was decided after doctors argued that continued treatment was not in his best interests and should end.

Ms Dance has now called for the video-sharing app Tiktok to be brought into the coroner’s investigation into his death, according to written submissions seen by The Guardian.

She believes Archie was injured when he tried to take part in an online game known as the “blackout challenge”, and wants the inquest into his death to scrutinise how social media contributed.

Ms Dance, 47, said: “Archie had the Tiktok app. In the last few weeks [before his injury] he kept making out that he was dizzy, that he could make himself pass out. He’d never caused me any alarm by putting anything around his neck or anything like that so this was a very new thing.

“For him to all of a sudden start that at the age of 12 years old, he’s seen it somewhere and the only thing I can think of is Tiktok.”

The written submissions sent to the coroner by Ms Dance’s lawyers said that she believed Archie was “influenced, persuaded or peer-pressured online” into taking part in the challenge.

Tiktok was contacted for comment.