A CAMPAIGNING schoolboy has written an impassioned plea to media giant TikTok urging bosses to prevent harmful videos “putting lives at stake”.
Clark Dearson is worried content that could lead to “kids dying or being injured” is being uploaded to the social media site.
The pupil, who attends Saint Pierre School in Leigh, was elected as the Children’s Prime Minister in December and has now written the letter to TikTok boss Chew Shou Zi, calling on him to ensure videos are removed and attempts to upload them are blocked.
The 11-year-old has been supported by Basildon’s Lisa Kenevan, mum of Isaac Kenevan, who died after taking part in an online choking challenge and Southend’s Hollie Dance, whose son Archie Battersbee is believed to have died after taking part in a challenge online.
The mums have previously campaigned around the issue with Southend West MP Anna Firth.
The letter, written solely by Clark, said: “I am writing to you regarding a video you have failed to remove from your site, even after public request.
“So far two people have sadly died attempting to undertake the challenges on these disgraceful videos, which I have been informed involve holding your breath for extremely long lengths of time.
“Most likely, many more people will be hurt unless you take down the videos. It is highly upsetting to know that, as a result of your lack of action, many lives are at stake and kids are dying or being severely injured. I don’t want any more innocent children to die.”
Ms Kenevan and Ms Dance are fronting a new campaign where they will be taking a hard-hitting video into schools to show the dangers of online videos. Ms Kenevan added she was impressed with Clark’s letter and said it proved that “children don’t want this and don’t want to see things like this.”
“I’ve made 222 reports about these videos and only a handful were acted on by these platforms. It feels like a lot of these reports are being reviewed by bots as often there is no action. We have asked Clark about this issue and he told us that he had seen a lot of nasty content in games online and I was impressed to see that he is concerned from a child’s perspective.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article