Ireland’s Media Regulator Has Contacted TikTok Over Dangerous Driving Posts
Credit: Rte News
Ireland’s Media Regulator Has Contacted TikTok Over Dangerous Driving Posts
The recent crash has put a spotlight on footage of dangerous driving and joyriding on the platform.
Media regulator Coimisiún na Meán has contacted TikTok in order to determine how the social media platform is responding to footage of dangerous driving, joyriding, and car theft on its platform. The news comes in the aftermath of the M9 horror car crash on Sunday, which saw 5 teenage boys die in a head on collision after driving down the motorway the wrong way. The family in the second car, three sisters and a seven-year-old boy, are currently being treated in hospital.
The five teenage boys who died have been named as Kamil Pustkowski (17) from Limerick, Jack Kennedy (17) from Athy, Co Kildare, Jeremy O’Brien (18) from Carlow, Joe “Joey” Carthy (15) from Athy, and Alex McCarthy (17) from Carlow.
Accounts belonging to some of the teenage boys who were killed in the collision appeared to show videos of cars being stolen, driven illegally, and being pursued by Garda. The recent crash has put a spotlight on footage of dangerous driving and joyriding on the platform.
The head of the regulator has stated that it is “generally concerned about the glorification of dangerous activity” and a range of “harmful content” that is available on social media.
“We have been in touch with TikTok. We have asked them for a full account of what they have seen on their platform, how they have dealt with it,” – Jeremy Godfrey said during an appearance on RTÉ News at One
TikTok has defended their record of removing harmful content. The social media company said that it was “closely monitoring content related to this incident”, and removes content that promotes crimes that could hurt people or glorifies violence.
According to reporting in The Irish Times this week, videos of teenagers joyriding in stolen cars on Irish roads are posted almost daily to TikTok. Gardaí believe that while videos of young men stealing cars has been a theme of social media for several years, this has been amped up in recent months. These videos often contain footage of the car thefts themselves as well as attempts to evade Garda cars in high-speed chases. While it has not yet been formally established if there is a link between this trend and the crash, the incident has prompted government scrutiny into the way in which TikTok handles dangerous content.
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