In 2020, the cherished life of 17-year-old Jaedon Bovell, a cherished son and aspiring digital artist from Delaware, came to an untimely end. His legacy continues today not just in his family’s cherished memories but also in their unwavering commitment to accountability and increased security on the internet.
Jaedon was a popular and active teenager at the time of his passing, with over 25,000 followers on TikTok, a platform where he showcased his energy via dancing moves and popular videos. Just one day before his death, on June 1, 2020, his last upload, a lively video of him singing and dancing was released. His mother Michelle Ortiz’s steadfast advocacy is centered on this dramatic contrast between his public expressiveness and his last moments.
In a tragic memory, Jaedon’s attempt to complete the “Blackout Challenge,” a dangerous viral phenomena that encourages self-asphyxiation till unconsciousness, was the direct cause of his death. When he was found at home, he had used a jiu-jitsu belt attached to a bunk bed to strangle himself.
According to his mother, Michelle Ortiz, he was “psychologically entrapped” by the challenge because of the information that was constantly presented to him through the platform’s “For You” recommendation engine.
Driven by deep sadness, Ortiz has turned her loss into a groundbreaking legal dispute. She joined five other British families in 2025 to file a wrongful death lawsuit in Delaware’s Superior Court against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance. According to the lawsuit, TikTok’s algorithmic approach is fundamentally defective and purposefully targets kids with dangerous content, creating an addictive experience from which they are unable to break free.
Additionally, the lawsuit supports “Jools’ Law,” a proposed legislative legislation that would require social media companies to hold onto a child’s data for five days after their passing. This would provide grieving families a crucial window of time to understand the situation. Ortiz and the other parents claim that TikTok has refused to provide them information on what their kids were seen, which has hindered their efforts to find answers.
Ortiz and the group of families continue despite TikTok’s request to have the lawsuit dismissed, claiming First Amendment and Communications Decency Act safeguards. Their fight now signifies a larger effort to protect all young people in digital environments, going beyond the confines of personal tragedy.
