LONDON (AP) — Britain’s government Monday urged TikTok and other social media companies to take down viral videos “celebrating” dangerous driving, after two police officers and five young men were killed in a crash when a car was driven down the wrong side of the road.
Officers Matthew Blades and Tom Clough were killed Saturday when a Volkswagen was driven the wrong way along a road in northeastern England and hit their vehicle. Five people in the car — three boys who were 17 and 18 years old and two men, both 23 — were also pronounced dead at the scene.
The collision took place as concerns grow over social media videos showing people driving dangerously on purpose, posted by the drivers themselves or others inside the vehicles at the time.
British media reports suggest that one of the people who died in the Volkswagen on Saturday may have previously posted such a video.
U.K. Defense Minister Luke Pollard said the government has told TikTok and similar platforms to “step up” and remove such “awful content.”
“We’ve communicated to those social media platforms that have been hosting content that celebrates this type of dangerous behavior on our roads to take down that content,” he told the BBC.
“It’s one of the reasons they’ve argued against some of the regulations, saying they can police themselves,” Pollard added. “This is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate it. Remove the content that celebrates dangerous behavior on our roads.”
Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s office said “the glorification of dangerous driving for clips and entertainment is utterly disgraceful.”
It said the U.K. media regulator has the government’s full backing to take tough action against platforms that fail in their legal duties.
TikTok did not comment but said its policies strictly prohibit content that could cause significant physical harm.
Police said that the car in the fatal crash had a cloned number plate to avoid detection. They said 12 people were arrested Monday in connection with suspected criminal activity, including possessing a firearm, before the crash.
Separately, four people, including a child, were seriously injured last week in County Kildare, Ireland after their car was struck by another vehicle going the wrong way down a highway. Five teenagers in the other car died in the crash.
An Irish parliamentary committee invited TikTok to discuss how it deals with content that “glorifies illegal activity” following that crash, but the social media company declined to attend.
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