A French mother whose teenage son took his own life is campaigning to hold social media platforms accountable, arguing that their algorithms pushed suicide-related content on him, as the French government considers a social media ban for young people – similar to the one which took effect in Australia this week.
Emmanuelle Pouedras's son, Clément, was 15 when he died in 2024 after jumping from a bridge.
His mother, a 55-year-old shopkeeper from in Brittany, north-western France, and her husband Sébastien are now seeking to reopen the investigation into his death and to hold social media companies to account.
In September, they filed a complaint against TikTok, Meta (the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) and other platforms, alleging offences including incitement to suicide.
"The vast majority of the videos on his TikTok ‘For You' page [where the platform’s algorithm recommends content] were inciting him to death, telling him he doesn’t matter to anyone," Pouedras told reporters at her home in the coastal town of Lorient.
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She said this content, some of which dealt with self-harm, "exacerbated" her son’s distress and fuelled a "downward spiral".
"Tiktok knew he wasn’t doing well, TikTok did nothing and TikTok is not helping us find the truth," she said, accusing the platform of failing to act despite warning signs.
Pouedras also said her son was cyberbullied on WhatsApp right up until the final hours before his death.
This week, she was among a group who met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Saint-Malo to discuss the challenges social media poses to democracy and society, as France considers tightening restrictions on young people’s access to social media.
This could include a ban for under-15s, similar to a landmark move which came into force in Australia on Wednesday.
Macron told the crowd that a bill could be debated in parliament as early as January to ban social media for anyone under "15 or 16 years old".
Pouedras pressed the president on what immediate measures prosecutors and platforms could take "to support bereaved families".
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‘Incitement’ to death
Even before Clément’s death, Pouedras said she was cautious about the risks of unrestricted smartphone use, and had a rule that her two children had to leave their phones outside their bedrooms at night.
During the investigation into Clément’s death, police did not examine his phone. She later discovered messages indicating sustained cyberbullying.
"Have you finished your shitty suicide?" read one message sent in a WhatsApp group chat, she said.
Pouedras spent months trying to contact platforms including Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok to access her son’s data and understand what led to his death.
She said she received only partial responses, despite platforms being required to grant access under French law, according to the country’s data protection authority, the CNIL.
The family filed a formal complaint on 19 September. Their lawyer, Pierre Debuisson, accused the platforms of "deliberate obstruction", arguing that social media sites had become the scene of "multiple incitements to suicide, accessible to minors without any protective filter".
The regional public prosecutor’s office has not said what action it will take in response.
TikTok told French news agency AFP that it "strictly prohibits content that depicts or promotes suicide or self-harm" and said it removes 98 percent of such content before it is reported.
Searches containing terms such as "suicide" are redirected to a page offering dedicated support resources, it added.
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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‘Take back control’
The case comes amid growing international concern over the impact of social media on young people’s mental health.
In September, a French parliamentary commission investigating the psychological effects of TikTok recommended banning social media for children under 15 and introducing a "digital curfew" for 15 to 18-year-olds.
The commission was launched in March after seven families sued TikTok in late 2024, accusing the platform of exposing their children to content that could encourage suicide.
This week, Australia became the first country to ban under-16s from social media altogether, saying it was time to "take back control" from powerful technology companies – a move that has been condemned by YouTube, Meta and other industry giants.
For Pouedras, the debate is painfully personal.
"I don’t want other families to go through what we’re living through," she said. "If this fight can save even one child, then it matters."
(with AFP)
