Jay Slater went missing in Tenerife before his body was found after 29 day search of the island
Trolls who filled the internet with 300 million videos about Jay Slater drove his mum to a nervous breakdown following his disappearance in Tenerife. Debbie Duncan was devastated when her son Jay, 19, went missing on June 17, 2024, while on a trip to the Canary Island with friends to attend the NRG music festival – his first holiday without his parents.
Following an extensive search on the island which lasted 29 days, his body was found on July 15, 2024. He’d suffered a fall on the way back to his accommodation after a night out. Debbie has since launched a petition calling for Jay’s Law which would look to stamp out malicious online content after the vile trolling she and her family were exposed to during the search for Jay.
Debbie, 57, of Oswaldtwistle, who has another son, Zak, 26, said: “I’m surprised I’m not in a padded cell. We’ve been through hell and back at the hands of so-called online sleuths.
“It dehumanised our son. It’s been like living in a movie but with no pause button. I’m a mother who has lost her son, but have been slagged off and treated like I’m subhuman.
“You name it, we’ve had it, on platforms from Facebook to TikTok to YouTube. Prank calls and social media posts saying, ‘we know where Jay is’ and dragging his friends, and even his brother, into it – ‘Zak is too quiet, he knows more than he’s letting on’.”
When trolls discovered one of Jay’s friends he was on holiday with had a conviction for drug dealing, the abuse became stratospheric.
Debbie continued to tell the Mirror: “People began to make videos with voiceovers about Jay being in a drug-fuelled underworld. It was mad, a snowball, out of control. They were sending photographs of photoshopped images of Jay, making out he’d been tortured.”
After Jay’s body was discovered, the trolls changed tack.
Debbie said: “Trolls said it wasn’t him in the coffin and the only way to be sure was to dig him up.”
When a friend set up a GoFundMe to cover search costs, accommodation for the family in Tenerife and repatriation costs, Debbie said: “People said I was using it to pay drug debts.
“They said our whole family were drug dealers. It was just soul destroying, because nobody knows us, but yet we were judged in such a bad way. We live in a nice house, we’ve all worked, we all have jobs, there’s no criminals in our family.
“Trolls make up their own narrative. And then people comment on the content, slagging me off. I’ve visited the police station so many times, but there’s not much they can do. And I’ve reported so many videos, but they don’t get taken down.”
Debbie explained how her mental health plummeted meaning she unable to properly grieve the loss of her son.
She said: “I wasn’t allowed to grieve when they found his body, because the white hot spotlight of social media pointed right at us. I had a full on mental breakdown.”
Debbie had been a finance officer at a high school but lost her job as a result of her mental health, she told the Mirror.
The bereaved mum is now demanding social media platforms be legally required to immediately remove organised misinformation and speculative malicious content aimed at grieving families through Jay’s Law. She has also backed Missing People charity’s campaign to end tragedy trolling.
Tragedy trolling is a form of cyberbullying in which perpetrators post abusive, mocking, or sensationalised content; spreading misinformation, accusations and theories about missing people on social media.
She, alongside Missing People, is backing the Mirror’s Missed campaign. Ross Miller, CEO of Missing People which highlights unsolved, or underreported cases of lost loved ones, said: “Some of the content we’re seeing is truly vile. This has got to stop – right now.”
While Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer – who has backed the campaign – said: “Families whose loved ones are missing are living through unimaginable pain, and the vile online abuse some of them face is completely unacceptable.”
Already supported by her local MP Sarah Smith, in the last week, Debbie has gained official government recognition for her Jay’s Law petition, after visiting the House of Commons and speaking to Kanishka Narayan, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for AI and Online Safety).
She said: “He really listened. I had a meltdown, I was emotional, and I thought ‘this is what you need to see – you need to see what is actually happening to families.’”
Debbie, who needs 100,000 signatures by May 4 for the petition to be debated in Parliament, received an official response which said: “The government recognises the devastating impact abuse and misinformation can have on an individual, especially during the loss of a loved one. The Government will continue to engage with platforms on this issue, discussing their actions to combat illegal content.”
Debbie continues to be trolled daily, she explained.
She added: “There’s still a guy on YouTube who makes a video about Jay for clicks every single day. And it’s monetised, so these people are making money from Jay’s death.
“It just appals me.”
She thinks the Missing People’s campaign comes not a moment too soon, adding: “To trolls I say, ‘your words can’t hurt me now. I’ve lost my son and there’s nothing worse than losing a child. I’m thick skinned now, you can say what you want’.
“But I don’t want this to happen again. We’re real people and we’ve lost our children. I’m going to keep going, keep fighting. My mental health is shot. But if it saves one family from going through what ours has, then it’ll be worth it.”
Sign Debbie’s petition at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/742843
The Mirror contacted YouTube, Meta and Tiktok for comment. In response, a spokesperson for YouTube said: “Harassment and hate speech are strictly prohibited on YouTube and when we find content that violates our policies, we take action.”
A TikTok spokesperson said: “Per our Community Guidelines, we do not allow misinformation that could cause significant harm to individuals or society, no matter the intent of the person posting it. This includes hoaxes, misleading AIGC, and harmful conspiracy theories. We also encourage our community to treat everyone with kindness and respect”
Missing People’s Demands
Missing People represents the 170,000 people who go missing in the UK every year.
The charity is calling on content creators to sign a pledge on their website, which says: “I pledge to support Missing People & Responsible Narratives in treating real stories with real respect.”
They are demanding people:
- Avoid speculation or sharing unverified claims
- Treat real stories with respect and remember there is a real person at the centre
- Reject AI‑generated or misleading images and audio
- Think about the family who may read your words
- Choose empathy over entertainment
- Once a person is found, respect their privacy by removing any content you might have shared
*Sign the pledge at https://www.missingpeople.org.uk/based-on-a-true-story
