An Irish parliamentary committee has asked TikTok to explain its content moderation system after the head of the country’s police force said it appeared that young people were deliberately filming themselves driving on the wrong side of motorways to get “likes” on social media.
Justin Kelly, the head of the Irish police force, Garda Síochána, commented on the matter on Aug. 17 after five teenage boys were killed in a head-on crash on the M9, a freeway in County Kildare, just outside the Irish capital of Dublin in the early hours of Aug. 16.
The BMW car the boys were in was on the wrong side of the motorway and collided with a vehicle containing three women and a child, all of whom were seriously injured.
Footage purporting to be from the BMW and other cars engaged in dangerous activity has been shared widely on social media.
Jeremy Godfrey, the executive chairman of Irish media regulator Coimisiún na Meán, told state broadcaster RTÉ that TikTok had been asked to account for footage of joyriding and dangerous driving appearing on the platform.
TikTok Asked for ‘Full Account’
“We’ve been in touch with TikTok, we’ve asked them for a full account of what they’ve seen on their platform, how they dealt with it,” Godfrey said on RTE’s “News at One” on Aug. 18.
TikTok defended its record on removing content that glorifies violent activity, according to the Irish Times, saying it was “closely monitoring content related to this incident.”
But Alan Kelly, the chair of the Irish parliament’s committee for arts, media, communications, culture, and sport, said it wanted to know exactly how it removes such content.
“In the aftermath of this tragedy, serious questions have arisen about the circulation of social media content which appears to glorify dangerous and illegal behaviour on our roads,” Kelly said. “We need meaningful action from social media platforms.”
This is not the first time footage related to criminal activity in Ireland has appeared on TikTok.
In 2022, a feud involving two organized-crime factions in Dublin led to both sides posting videos of arson and making threats on TikTok.
A 29-year-old man, James Whelan, was fatally shot in April 2022 at the height of the feud. His death remains unsolved.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin’s has also criticized the wrong-way driving trend.
“It is an irresponsible and dangerous act, and it is shocking that in some cases it is being done for likes on social media,” Martin said on Aug. 17.
Irish media outlets have identified the five boys as Joey Carthy, 15; Alex McCarthy, Jack Kennedy, and Kamil Pustkowski, all 17; and Jeremy O’Brien, 18.
Irish justice minister Jim O’Callaghan has proposed making driving the wrong way on a motorway a separate criminal offense.
Jail or Grave Warning
“You‘ll end up in jail, or you’ll end up in a grave,” O’Callaghan warned.
Martin said the Aug. 16 incident was the second such crash in Ireland in a matter of days caused by someone driving the wrong way along a motorway or dual carriageway.
Police said they had not been pursuing the car containing the boys at the time of the crash.
The Epoch Times reached out to TikTok for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
Reuters contributed to this report.
