ARCHIE Battersbee's mum has called on a coroner to examine what role TikTok may have played in his death.
The 12-year-old died on August 6 when his life support was withdrawn despite a landmark legal battle to keep him alive.
Mum Hollie Dance had discovered him unconscious at home in Essex and believes he was taking part in an online challenge.
She is now asking for TikTok to be made an interested party in his inquest next year, The Guardian reports.
This would mean the social media giant would be called to give evidence.
Her plea comes ahead of a pre-inquest review today for Archie, who died of a brain injury secondary to strangulation.
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Hollie said her son she had caught her son practising the dangerous challenge, which The Sun Online is not naming, in the weeks before his injury.
The mum explained this was a "very new thing" and Archie had never caused her "any alarm" before.
She added: “For him to all of a sudden start that at the age of 12-years-old, he’s seen it somewhere and the only thing I can think of is TikTok.”
In written submissions sent to the coroner, her lawyers say Hollie believes her son was “influenced, persuaded or peer-pressured online” into taking part in the challenge.
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She said the influence social media may have had on his death is “of real and important public concern”.
The documents also state at least 82 children died in the US in similar circumstances, citing a report by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Archie's parents launched a mammoth legal battle to keep their son alive as they vowed to fight to the end.
But they lost their fight at every hurdle, with judges ruling that keeping his life support switched on was not in the youngster's "best interests".
Archie's mum previously called on social media giants to take action against the dangerous challenges.
She said: "The social media companies don’t do enough to stop harmful content online.
“It’s out there and people are grooming our children to do these challenges, it’s disgusting.
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"The people – they’re often adults, not children – who are demonstrating these challenges are sick.”
TikTok declined to comment on the matter.
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