Bereaved mum in tears as data campaign to become law

A mum who has campaigned for social media data reform following the death of her 14-year-old son said she "burst into tears" after being told the government will make it law.

Ellen Roome believes Jools Sweeney died after an online challenge went wrong in 2022, and his social media accounts could provide the evidence she needs, but she has been unable to access them.

Since her son's death, Roome, who lives in Cheltenham, has been campaigning for social media companies to preserve children's data, and now, an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill means it will be.

"I have fought so hard," Roome said. "I just wanted to make something positive out of the loss of Jools' life."

Roome was in Los Angeles for campaign work when Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, called her at 04:15 PST on Saturday.

She said Kendall told her an amendment will be made to the Crime and Policing Bill, meaning a child's social media data will now be automatically preserved within five days of their death, causing the "delighted" mum to "burst into tears".

"Later on, the coroner can, or Ofcom can, then request that data, which is massive," Roome explained.

"Once we can prove what's been shown on their platforms, then we can really start holding these companies accountable to start making proper changes."

The amendment will become law once it receives Royal Assent.

Lord Nash is now proposing amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill, including children aged under 16 being banned from social media, which Roome said she "absolutely backs".

"It's protecting the children, it's taking it away and saying 'Social media companies, you fix it and then we can consider handing it back' if they can get it right, but they've proved they're not doing enough," Roome said.

"There would be no other product where we allow harm to happen to children and we don't remove it."

Although Roome's campaign has been borne from her grief, she said she will not benefit from Jools' Law, which will help newly bereaved parents.

But her mission to find out what happened to Jools has not stopped, as police are yet to review a forensic download of his device.

Roome also applied to the Attorney General for her son's inquest to be redone. If this is approved, she will need to go to the High Court, and the coroner can demand social media release Jools' data, she added.

"Back in March 2024, the social media companies did tell me they preserved his data. What we've got, I don't know," she said.

"But I'm going to try."

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