A DEVASTATED mum says her late son is being “suppressed” by a social media platform which keeps removing videos documenting his cancer battle.
Harrison Boyd, 13, died last October after an eight-month fight with an NUT carcinoma cancer which saw him endure a number of treatments and chemotherapy sessions.
Prior to his death, the inspiring schoolboy decided to use TikTok to update his followers throughout his journey.
Regularly posting videos to raise awareness of what it is like to fight cancer, Harrison set out to encourage other children with rare illnesses.
The Harrison’s Army social media movement quickly gathered momentum and before long he had become a viral sensation whose story touched online users worldwide.
Since his death, however, his mum Tanya Boyd, 39, from Clacton, says TikTok has deleted his account - which had thousands of followers - due to the content he was posting.
Determined to keep her son’s legacy alive, she set up her own account on which she would post videos of her “soul mate” and his journey.
But since doing so, she has encountered problems with TikTok and its users trying to censor the content, resulting in her profiles and videos getting frequently banned and deleted.
“Harrison’s videos keep getting removed for minor safety and TikTok has banned his and my accounts because people keep reporting his videos,” she said.
“TikTok is not supporting the creators on its platform and I just think it is disgusting what it is going on that app.
“We are against cancer and also bullying and Harrison wanted to document his journey, but he is now being suppressed by the app he chose to do that on.”
Despite the problems, Tanya says the online camaraderie she has experienced - which she puts down to her son’s initial efforts - has been second to none.
Tanya added: “Harrison has touched so many people’s hearts and the support has been overwhelming, with loads of people trying to get his videos back.
“Some people on TikTok have even now nominated him for a Pride of Britain Award and so far his hashtags have had millions of interactions.
“I am now trying to get him verified because once that happens TikTok will be unlikely be able to ban anymore of the videos or remove his accounts.”
TikTok has been contacted for comment but had not responded at the time of the Gazette going to press.
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