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Speaking on Safer Internet Day, a global initiative to raise awareness about online harms, Mr Derrington said TikTok had been in contact with some of the parents, adding that they “have been through something unfathomably tragic”.
In an interview on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the families accused the tech firm of having “no compassion”.
Ellen Roome, mother of 14-year-old Jools, said she had been trying to obtain data from TikTok that she thinks could provide clarity on his death. She is campaigning for legislation to grant parents access to their child’s social media accounts if they die.
“We want TikTok to be forthcoming, to help us – why hold back on giving us the data?” Lisa Kenevan, mother of 13-year-old Isaac, told the programme. “How can they sleep at night?”
Asked why TikTok had not given the data the parents had been asking for, Mr Derrington said:
“This is really complicated stuff because it relates to the legal requirements around when we remove data and we have, under data protection laws, requirements to remove data quite quickly. That impacts on what we can do.
“We always want to do everything we can to give anyone answers on these kinds of issues but there are some things which simply we don’t have,” he added.
Asked if this meant TikTok no longer had a record of the children’s accounts or the content of their accounts, Mr Derrington said: “These are complex situations where requirements to remove data can impact on what is available.
“Everyone expects that when we are required by law to delete some data, we will have deleted it.
“So this is a more complicated situation than us just having something we’re not giving access to.
“Obviously it’s really important that case plays out as it should and that people get as many answers as are available.”
The lawsuit – which is being brought on behalf of the parents in the US by the Social Media Victims Law Center – alleges TikTok broke its own rules on what can be shown on the platform.
