Watch as Sunderland mum vents her disgust after malicious fake TikTok accounts set up in name of her disabled son

Dainton Austin suffers from microcephaly, a condition which causes bleeds on the brain which have resulted in him being blind, dependent on additional oxygen and unable to sit up without support.

Dainton needs regular hospital care and it was while mother Billie-Jo Hargrave was at Sunderland Royal with her son that she was informed by friends about the first fake account being set-up.

The distraught single mum said she immediately contacted TikTok via their report account problems page and received an automated response saying the account “didn’t meet removal guidelines”.

Billie-Jo, 24, from Thorney Close, said: “It was December 22 when my friends started messaging about it. When I looked, they’d taken photographs of Dainton from my Facebook page and used a disgusting name about his disability.

"I was in tears when I saw it and couldn’t understand why anyone would do this. The words used were vile. He can’t help having a disability and I just can’t understand why anyone would target an innocent little boy who has never done anything to anyone.

"I started thinking were they targeting me, but I can’t think of anyone I’ve any trouble with.”

Following the incident, Billie-Jo closed her Facebook account and stopped using TikTok. However, on January 11 she was again informed by friends that another account had been set-up.

She added: “When it happened a second time, I couldn’t stop crying. This time the name focused on an aspect of Dainton’s disabilities and I also started getting messages from this account which were again vile and disgusting about my son.

"I reported it to the police who told me to also report it to TikTok. Again, I used the reporting problems page and got the same automated message.”

Billie-Jo, who is also mother to Frasier, three, and Bonnie-Bleu, 19 months, is “furious” TikTok didn’t remove the accounts quickly, but equally annoyed they were “allowed to be posted in the first place”.

She said: “By the time the second account was posted, the first one had been on their platform for three weeks. With the malicious nature of these comments about a child with disabilities, I think it’s disgraceful TikTok didn’t take them down straight away.

"Surely accounts being posted should be monitored and these should never have been allowed to go up.”

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As a last resort, Billie-Jo contacted the Echo. We contacted TikTok on Tuesday January 17 and on the following afternoon both accounts were removed.

Billie-Jo added: “I’ve found this whole situation really stressful and it has been upsetting for my whole family.”

Responding to the situation a TikTok spokesperson said: "We have banned these accounts for violating our policies. We want TikTok to be an inclusive space and our Community Guidelines are clear that this kind of behaviour has no place on our platform."

The social media company said it uses a combination of “technology and human moderation” to monitor accounts and urged TikTok users to report any content which violates their guidelines.

A statement from Northumbria Police said: “We are aware of a suspected hate crime involving online social media accounts. Enquiries are ongoing.”