THE mother of Archie Battersbee reportedly wants a coroner to examine what role the exposure to TikTok videos may have played in the 12-year-old’s death.

Hollie Dance believes Archie, from Southend, was “influenced, persuaded, or peer-pressured online” into taking part in a challenge, The Guardian reported.

Archie died in August after his life support was switched off following a long legal battle.

He had been in a coma since being found unconscious by Ms Dance with a ligature around his neck, back in April.

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Speaking to The Guardian, Hollie said she now wants a coroner to consider what role TikTok played in his death as she believed he was injured as a result of taking part in an internet challenge known as the “blackout challenge”.

Ms Dance wants TikTok to be made an interested party in the inquest, which would mean the company could be called to give evidence.

She told The Guardian: “Archie had the TikTok app.

“In the last few weeks, before his injury, he kept making out he was dizzy, that he could make himself pass out.

“He had 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 has seen it somewhere and the only thing I can think of is TikTok.”

TikTok has a minimum age requirement of 13; however Ofcom found that in 2020, 42 per cent of UK eight to 12-year-olds used the platform.

The Guardian says it has seen written submissions to the coroner by Ms Dance’s new lawyers, which say she believed Archie was “influenced, persuaded, or peer-pressured online” into taking part in the blackout challenge, and that the matters raised are “of real and important public concern”.

The submissions on behalf of Ms Dance request a jury inquest and also that the “well-meaning response” of ambulance staff and those responsible for Archie’s care in the first 24 hours be examined.

Ms Dance said this included why he was not flown to the Royal London hospital.

The submissions however, explicitly state that they are not seeking for the court decisions about Archie to be explored.

A pre-inquest review into Archie’s death is due to take place today at Chelmsford Coroner’s Court. 

TikTok declined to comment at this stage.