The mum and sister of 13-year-old Blake Gallier, from Kent, said the teen had accessed “worrying stuff” and had “disturbing videos” fed to her via social media accounts
The grieving family of a 13-year-old girl said they believe she took her own life after being bombarded by disturbing content they found on her phone.
Blake Gallier was found dead at her family home weeks after her 13th birthday. Her mum, Gemma Best, believes the young girl, who did not appear to be in poor mental health, took her own life – although an inquest into her death is yet to be held.
The family, from Gravesham, Kent, has joined a campaign to introduce an under-16s social media ban after discovering the distressing content to which their youngest member was being exposed.
Since the tragedy on October 30 last year, Blake’s mum Gemma and sister Tayla Gallier have been supporting the Raise The Age campaign to introduce a ban on social media for under-16s after they found social media algorithms had been feeding her suicide normalising content.
Remembering the teen, Gemma said: “Blake was really happy. She was an extrovert; she was funny; she was hilarious; she was the life and soul of the party. Blake was a confident, happy extrovert who was just phenomenal.”
Tayla, 19, added: “She was the youngest; I am the eldest sister, so if anyone knows that dynamic, they know it can be very challenging at times.
“She was annoying. She was always stealing my things. She was jarring, but she was amazing. She was very funny; she was the life of the party. You could hear her from a mile away. She was completely full of life.”
Describing the type of content they found on her phone, Gemma said her daughter “reposted a lot of worrying stuff” of which she was not aware. Taylor said her sister had been viewing what she described as disturbing videos. The two were left convinced that young children should not be accessing social media.
Gemma, 47, said: “Children that age are on their phones, and I think social media was a big issue for Blake. From what I have gathered, Blake reposted a lot of worrying stuff, and I was not aware of that.
“I never realised what the content was. All her friends had phones; the age for social media was 13, and I stupidly never researched it. After going through what we have gone through, I 100% support the social media ban. I was not a parent who was convinced until this happened. Now I think, ‘why did she need that phone?’
“If Blake had gone out more and not been on her phone so much or in her bedroom, she might not have done what she did. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.”
Tayla added: “When we got her phone back, we saw how many disturbing videos she was seeing. It only takes one bad night, and you like something you relate to, and then that is all the algorithm shows you. They are seeing videos normalising ending your life.
“I do not think young people can fully comprehend what ending their own life means at that age. We were completely unaware of the things that she was seeing online.”
“It made it very apparent that no young person should be on social media seeing those things.” Gemma and Tayla, who both work for Marks and Spencer in its Stratford and Orpington branches respectively, decided to start a charity in Blake’s name at the end of last year.
Blake’s Pink Promise is currently in the process of being registered with the Charity Commission but has already funded counselling for 76 pupils across four Gravesend schools and two adults.
They have been working with Blake’s secondary school and former primary school, Shears Green, to identify students aged seven to 13 who may need support and fundraise for them to have counselling. Gemma says it is important to target children as young as seven, as she believes Blake must have been struggling from a young age.
She continued: “It could happen to anyone. I would love to say it will never happen again, but I can’t.” Tayla, who also runs a baking company called Taysty Bakes, added: “When you are that young, you do not know what is happening to you and do not have the capacity to see that you need help.”
“I think it became very apparent after Blake’s passing that there is a lot more going on than what we realise, and a lot of young people do not have the support that they might need.
“Our whole lives were turned upside down, so even if we help one child not feel the way Blake must have, [that] makes doing this every day worth it. We want to prevent anyone else from going through the same thing that we have had to. We want to help people in the way we wish she was helped.”
For her work with the charity, store manager Gemma won Marks and Spencer’s Remarkable Woman Award and met fellow bereaved parent and campaigner Ellen Roome.
Ellen founded Jools’ Law in memory of her son, Jools Sweeney, after he died in 2022, requiring relevant platforms to preserve a deceased child’s digital data after being notified of their death, allowing coroners and investigators to examine it.
Burnham has banned children under 16 from social media
The principles were incorporated into the Crime and Policing Act this year, but Ellen was still left with questions about what happened to Jools and called for his inquest to be reopened.
Last month, the High Court approved her application, meaning the 14-year-old’s social media can now be examined, which had not been available at the original hearing. Gemma and Tayla, alongside several other bereaved parents, supported Ellen at the High Court while the decision was made.
In June, the Government announced that children under 16 will be banned from social media. Apps including TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram are among those that will be included.
It is hoped the measure will pass before Christmas, with the ban coming in by spring 2027. The new measures will aim to protect young people from harm online and address unhealthy late-night scrolling on phones. New PM Andy Burnham is yet to comment on the policy.
The Samaritans is available 24/7 if you need to talk. You can contact them for free by calling 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or head to the website to find your nearest branch. You matter.
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