The government has told TikTok and other social media companies to take down content featuring a social media trend showing people driving the wrong way down roads.
It comes after two “hero” police officers died after the police vehicle they were driving was struck by a Volkswagen Passat travelling on the wrong side of the A66 in Teesside on Saturday night.
Later reports claim one of the teenagers killed in the crash was involved in filming dangerous driving in TikTok videos before the fatal crash took place.
Defence minister Luke Pollard said social media platforms should act to remove posts showing people driving the wrong way down roads, saying they would need to “step up”.
“There’s lots of content online on social media platforms of people celebrating dangerous driving, celebrating driving inappropriately on our roads down the wrong side of the roads, behaving incredibly badly,” he told BBC Breakfast.
“Now that’s a decision that social media companies have now. They’ve argued for many years they don’t need to be regulated that they can police themselves. So this is a challenge for them. Remove that content.
“They know exactly what content is on their site. They know how their algorithm works. They also know that people post content to get views.
“The more views you can get, sometimes you get money for it. So it’s a financial incentive for people to post outrageous content that gets more people watching it.”
He told also BBC Radio 5 Live that the government will be using the powers in the Online Safety Act to compel the platforms to take dangerous driving content down.
“But if the social media platforms were to regulate themselves and remove it in the first place, not allow their algorithm to share this type of content, because they know exactly what type of content that algorithm is designed to share, then I think we’d be in a better place,” he said.
Five teenagers and young men who died driving on the wrong side of the road in the crash have also been named as Makai Saddington, 18, Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Theo Rae, 17, Cole Robert Worthy, 17, and Jakub Matusiak, 23. No-one survived the collision, which is being investigated by the police watchdog.
Court records show that Saddington was accused of assaulting a police officer and of causing racially aggravated alarm or distress to another in Middlesbrough on June 9.
He had appeared before Teesside Magistrates’ Court on July 17 charged with the offences and was awaiting trial.
It has also been reported that Saddington was involved in filming dangerous driving in TikTok videos before the fatal crash took place.
Cleveland Police had launched a pursuit after spotting the VW acting “suspiciously”, the force said in the aftermath of the fatal crash.
Officers began following the car in South Bank, near Middlesbrough in Teesside, before it joined the A66 in the wrong direction.
Officers ended their pursuit, but just 10 seconds later the VW collided with an oncoming police armed response unit at 3.39am. The police car, which was travelling in the right direction, was not part of the pursuit.
In tributes released by Cleveland Police, the two officers’ families said they had died “in the line of duty” and that their lives will “never be the same”.
“He was our hero with a fantastic sense of humour,” PC Clough’s family said. “Jumped into action whenever needed, and willing to help anyone for any reason. Proudly fought for his country to make the world a better place. Always on public duty throughout his short life.”
In a separate tribute, PC Blades’ wife said he was a “devoted” father and her “best friend”.
Donations to a fundraiser set up by Cleveland Police to support the families of the two police officers have now reached over £250,000. Organisers said funds raised would be split equally between the two officers’ families and the federation would continue to provide support.