Key facts
- TikTok content may have significantly influenced a 14-year-old's decision to take her own life.
- Ofcom is investigating TikTok's compliance with legal obligations to protect children.
- A survey indicated one in three children were exposed to high-risk content on social media in the week prior.
- The schoolgirl's wellbeing concerns were first raised on December 31, 2025, due to a tablet search.
A 14-year-old schoolgirl, Adriana Retyte, died after viewing suicide-related content on TikTok, prompting renewed calls for UK regulators to address harmful material on social media. The coroner stated that the content may have significantly influenced her decision to take her own life. Concerns about Retyte's wellbeing were first raised on December 31, 2025, when her school-issued tablet alerted staff to a search related to a method of death. She died on May 8, two days after attempting suicide. TikTok expressed its deepest sympathies and stated it enforces strict rules against content promoting self-harm. Melanie Dawes, chief executive of Ofcom, expressed a lack of trust in social media companies' ability to clean up their services and ensure safety. Ofcom launched a separate investigation in June into whether TikTok is failing to comply with its legal obligations to protect children. The Molly Rose Foundation, a charity campaigning for safer social media, is calling on Ofcom to investigate TikTok's algorithm, stating that three-quarters of teens seeing high-risk suicide, self-harm, and depression content saw it on TikTok.