UK minister urges social media firms to remove dangerous driving videos

The UK minister urges social media firms to remove dangerous driving videos

Defence Minister Luke Pollard says 'there's no place' for social media trend showing people driving the wrong way down roads.

Watch: Content celebrating dangerous driving 'should not be online', says UK defence minister

A video posted on TikTok account believed to belong to one of the five passengers showed them and four other young people involved in a police pursuit. The video has since been deleted.

The five passengers - 18-year-old Makai Saddington, 23-year-old Jacob Matusiak, 17-year-old Theo Ray, Michael Robert Cahill, and Cole Robert Worthy - were killed in the crash on Saturday.

Police officers PC Tom Clough and PC Matthew Blades died when a car travelling the wrong way down a dual carriageway collided with their vehicle on the A66 near Middlesbrough.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said 'the glorification of dangerous driving for clips and entertainment is utterly disgraceful'. She added that the culture secretary has been clear that footage should be removed by social media platforms 'in line with their legal obligations', and that Ofcom has the government's 'full backing to take action' against those that fail in their duties.

TikTok said its policies prohibit content that could cause significant physical harm, including dangerous driving. The company is actively removing videos and accounts that break its rules, including the account believed to belong to Saddington.

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