Meta and TikTok Face Lawsuit From Italian Woman After Daughter Dies by Suicide

AN ITALIAN WOMAN, Irene Roggero Ugues noticed some weird changes in her 12 year-old-daughter Rossella's behavior before she lost her adolescent daughter to suicide. After Rossella’s death, her parents unlocked her devices in which they found that she had been using social media for a long time. They also figured out that she had a secret profile on Instagram named ‘Just a dead pers0n’ with a zero instead of an o.

Irene Roggero Ugues’s daughter Rossella started searching for depressive material and content on September 23, 2025. Social media algorithms kept pushing the same content to her, and just five months later she committed suicide. Irene had a conversation with Reuters in a secluded corner of a cafe in her northern Italian hometown of Asti, saying that Rosella’s behavior appeared to become autonomous, expanding until it eclipsed her joyful, friendly nature."

Rossella’s parents are among a number of families in Italy that have brought a lawsuit against Meta. Both companies, TikTok and Meta, denied the allegations. They said we are taking steps to protect teenagers by removing harmful content, helping families manage their children’s accounts, keep a check on what content they are consuming, and limiting the impact of risky material on social media platforms.

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Meta and TikTok 

A spokesperson at Meta said, we know that parents worry about the safety of their children and teenagers online, which is why we are continuously making changes to protect young people. "We strongly disagree with these allegations, which ignore our longstanding commitment to supporting young people,” a Meta spokesperson said.

On the other hand, TikTok said it is strengthening various safety measures, removing more than 99% of content that violates the rules and regulations, and continuing to invest in safety mechanisms. A TikTok spokesperson said, “We also continue to invest in safety measures to diversify content according to person. We try to block harmful searches and connect vulnerable users with support resources.”

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Rosella’s Sudden Illness:

Irene Roggero Ugues explains that Rossella’s tragedy unfolded like a sudden “illness” that left them powerless. Several European regulators are tightening oversight of digital platforms and they are also trying to add restrictions on children up to age 16 using social networking sites. 

The parents have said that safeguards provided by the platforms are not enough as their children can easily figure out online tutorials showing how to bypass filters or avoid time limits by switching devices. Valentina Muragile, member of Italy's association of large families said, "Monitoring kids' social media use is a full-time job. It would require parents to spend all their time keeping a check, and that is impossible."

(Edited by Harsh Pandey)

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