Jools' Law
Jools’ Law is a UK campaign led by Ellen Roome MBE, calling for the automatic preservation of a child’s online and social media data within five days of death. Without preserved digital evidence, harm to children cannot be properly examined, and social media companies cannot be held to account.
Jools’ Law
Protecting children. Preserving the truth.
Turning pain into purpose to protect other children
Digital evidence can disappear within hours. Jools’ Law exists to stop that.
When a child dies, their social media data can be lost within days. Jools’ Law calls for that data to be automatically preserved so families can get answers and future children can be protected.
What is Jools' Law?
Jools’ Law: Protecting Children’s Digital Evidence After Death
A UK campaign led by Ellen Roome MBE, calling for the automatic preservation of a child’s online and social media data when a child dies.
When a child dies, their digital life can hold vital evidence about what happened.
Messages, videos, search history, online interactions and algorithm-driven content can disappear within hours or days.
Right now, there is no automatic system to preserve this data.
Jools’ Law was founded following the death of Ellen’s 14-year-old son, Jools, after critical questions about his online activity could not be answered because digital evidence was never properly examined.
The Problem
Children’s digital data is not automatically preserved after death
Families are often not in a position to know what to ask for or when
Police and coroners can miss crucial digital evidence
Platforms may delete or overwrite data before it is secured
This must change.
The Solution - What is Jools’ Law?
Jools’ Law calls for:
Automatic preservation of a child’s online and social media data
A clear, standardised process so that vital evidence is not missed
Early protection of data to support investigations and inquests
Preserve the data
Find the truth
Protect other children
Impact (Crime & Policing Bill)
Jools’ Law is now influencing real legislative change in the UK.
Through sustained campaigning, the Government is working to amend the Crime and Policing Bill to reflect the core ambition of Jools’ Law: ensuring that a child’s digital evidence is preserved after their death.
While the law may not be named “Jools’ Law”, the principle is clear. Children’s data must be protected in the critical early hours and days following a death.
This is a major step forward and recognition in Parliament that digital evidence is essential to understanding what has happened to a child.
What are we waiting for?
Automatic preservation of data, not just when requested
A system that acts immediately after a child’s death
Clarity on how long data will be preserved to ensure nothing is lost
Use of existing international agreements, including the UK–US data access treaty, so data held by overseas platforms can be secured
Assurance that coroners can access the data they need
Until this is confirmed, there remains a risk that vital evidence could still be lost.
Why this matters
Children’s digital lives are deeply connected to their real lives.
Online data can help identify coercion, exploitation, grooming, sextortion, or exposure to harmful content.
No parent should have to fight for answers about their child’s final moments.
No child’s death should go unexplained because digital evidence was lost before anyone acted.
Working With
Click or Quit (1decision)
https://www.1decision.co.uk/click-or-quit
Papyrus – Prevention of Young Suicide
https://www.papyrus-uk.org/
Bereaved Families for Online Safety
https://www.bereavedfamiliesforonlinesafety.org/
