Gov slams social media sites over dangerous driving content
A crash that killed seven people over the weekend – including two police officers – has led to calls for more action from social media companies
Social media platforms have been urged to remove images and video that glorify dangerous driving following an incident in which two police officers died whilst chasing a car that was driving down the wrong side of the A66 dual carriageway.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, defence Minister, Luke Pollard, said: “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”.
“Social media companies could take [that] down today”, claimed Pollard, who also highlighted how many firms have “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.”
A TikTok account belonging to one of the five passengers who also died, Makai Saddington, previously shared videos of dangerous driving – these have since been removed. This is far from the only case of this type of content being shared online; Pollard pointed out how sometimes “there is a financial incentive for people to post outrageous content that gets more people watching it”.
That said, a statement by Cleveland Police, claimed that “at the current time, there is no evidence to indicate that filming of the activities that took place on Friday night and Saturday morning has taken place for the purposes of TikTok.”
Regardless, in a visit to Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: “Anybody who glorifies dangerous driving is doing something that’s truly reprehensible.”
In the meantime, it’s understood No 10 is in contact with TikTok surrounding the issue. The 2023 Online Safety Act was designed to limit young people’s interaction with dangerous content such as this, with TikTok also currently under investigation by the media regulator Ofcom for non-compliance.
An Ofcom spokesperson said: “Under the Online Safety Act, platforms must minimise children’s exposure to violent material and content promoting dangerous challenges. In July, we launched an investigation into TikTok’s compliance with its child safety duties, and we’ve shown we’ll take action if evidence suggests companies are falling short.”
TikTok says that in the first three months of 2026, 98 per cent of content removed for promoting dangerous behaviour was done proactively by the firm’s moderation team. It also says that its guidelines specifically prohibit anything that could cause physical harm – including dangerous driving.
It’s not solely TikTok on which such videos are appearing. According to IAM RoadSmart, one in seven drivers aged under 24 have filmed themselves while driving in the past year, with many of these videos finding their way onto social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and X, as well as TikTok.
“The distraction caused by smart phone usage and driving is well documented, but it is horrifying that some people are now actively filming and flaunting such dangerous behaviours online,” said IAM RoadSmart’s director of policy, Nicholas Lyes.
“Social media companies have a duty to ensure that dangerous criminal activities are not circulated for likes and shares. It cannot be difficult for these organisations to quickly identify dangerous driving or riding and have the videos removed quickly.”
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