A mom is advocating for better safety features on social media after tragically losing her son to suicide after an alleged sextortion plot. Morgan Moore, 33, believes an interaction on social media had a significant impact on her 14-year-old son’s mental health. According to Morgan, who is from El Dorado, Kansas, police informed her that her son, Caleb Moore, had been talking to a “14-year-old girl” on TikTok just before his death.
Someone posing as a young girl had been flirting with the 14-year-old.
Morgan “was hysterical and screaming” after learning about her son’s death, per The Mirror. His death by suicide “didn’t make sense” to her. About a day later, police discovered more information on the late teenager’s phone and informed his family, she said.
A heartbreaking 35-minute exchange that started on TikTok gave the family more clarity. According to the mom, “someone posing as a girl his age” was flirting with her son on the app before they started interacting on Snapchat instead. She then “sent him photos” and “asked him to send pictures” too.
When he sent the photos, everything changed.
After the teenager sent “compromising” photos to the person posing as a young girl, the person started acting more aggressive. “This person began demanding money and making threats that if he didn’t send over the money they were going to expose his photos and his family and friends would be ashamed of him,” the mom alleged, per The Mirror.
She added that the interaction likely made her son “feel like his life was over as he had made this mistake.”
Her son was ‘responsible’ and they had spoken about social media safety before.
But unfortunately, those conversations didn’t stop him from being targeted. Morgan described it as “so heartless and anonymous.”
People like the person who targeted Caleb “intentionally manipulate what a 14-year-old boy would be vulnerable about – their sexuality, the family’s wellbeing and social status,” she said.
Although police are trying to identify the perpetuator, doing so is extremely challenging, the mom added. “It’s incredibly overwhelming because even though Caleb was the most loved kid and happy, funny and responsible on these platforms, this still happened to him,” Morgan said.
The mom thinks the situation is what pushed her son to end his life because he thought nothing could be done to resolve the issue. “I don’t think Caleb thought that we wouldn’t help him,” Morgan said. “I think he felt like we wouldn’t be able to help him or fix it and it was going to be his fault and none of these things are true.”
It’s unclear whether Caleb had indicated his actual age on these platforms.
On TikTok, users need to be at least 16 years old to send messages, The Mirror reported. Meanwhile, Snapchat claimed to have “strong safety settings” for teens using the platform. Morgan said she had talked to her son about social media safety before, and he had been using TikTok for approximately one year prior to his death.
