Jay Slater: Petition for tragedy trolling law needs thousands more signatures as deadline nears

A petition which could see social media companies forced to remove "misinformation and malicious speculation" needs thousands more signatures to be considered by Parliament.

Nineteen-year-old Jay Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, went missing while on holiday in Tenerife in 2024 and died after falling down a ravine. His disappearance on June 16 prompted unfounded online speculation during the month-long search for him.

- Essential breaking Lancashire news - sign up for our LP newsletter today.

Jay’s mum Debbie Duncan and her family were targeted with online abuse following his disappearance, as conspiracy theories quickly spread on social platforms such as TikTok.

In a similar vein to the baseless suggestions made by so-called TikTok sleuths amid the hunt for Nicola Bulley - who was missing for more than three weeks before being discovered in the River Wyre in February 2023, having accidentally drowned - the conspiracy theories continued even after Jay’s body had been found and a coroner had concluded there was no third party involved in his death.

Last year, Jay’s mum launched an official Parliamentary petition calling for a new ‘Jay’s Law’ backed by Hyndburn MP Sarah Smith.

The proposed legislation would tackle ‘tragedy trolling’ and oblige social media platforms “to remove organised misinformation” and “act on speculative, malicious content likely to cause serious harm”. It would be backed by enforcement powers handed to the communications regulator Ofcom.

For Jay’s Law to be considered for debate in Parliament, the petition needs to receive a minimum of 100,000 signatures. Currently (as of March 11, 2026) it has been signed more than 10,800 times. The target needs to be my met by the six-month deadline of May 6, 2026.

Speaking about the proposal last year, Ms Duncan said: “I am first and foremost a mother who lost her son. That pain is unbearable on its own.

“But on top of my grief, I have been the victim of an organised network of conspiracy theorists that spread false stories and coordinated lies about Jay, his family and his friends - it is relentless.

“Instead of being able to focus on grieving for my son, I have spent so much of my time and energy trying to protect myself and my family from those lies. Every day brings new claims and new videos that are designed to get attention at my expense. It is exhausting and it has made the worst chapter of my life even harder.

“I’m grateful to Sarah for standing with me in the fight for Jay’s Law. This has helped me turn this pain into something that could spare other families from this kind of abuse.

“We are asking for change so that no other parent, brother, sister or child must live through what I am living through now.”

You can sign the petition here.