An MP has called on TikTok to take action against social media accounts he says "glorify" crimes including motorbike theft and dangerous and illegal behaviour on the roads.

Jeevun Sandher, who represents Loughborough, said he was concerned the firm, and other tech companies, were allowing content that normalises criminal behaviour.

The Labour MP said he had written to TikTok asking for six accounts, linked to the LE11 Loughborough postcode area he represents, to be removed from their platform.

TikTok told the BBC it had subsequently suspended a number of accounts and removed associated content.

Sandher said the accounts, which show videos of riders wearing masks or balaclavas often breaking speed limits and ignoring the rules of the road, normalised crime and demonstrated a "systemic failure of moderation" by TikTok.

He said the videos had an impact on actual crime in his constituency.

"It makes it harder to deter crime because all of a sudden it becomes part of a trend – something that is admirable and also people feel a sense of thrill from the impunity of it all," he said.

In a letter to TikTok, the MP said: "Motorcycle theft is a significant and ongoing problem in Loughborough and I have been working closely with local residents and the police on this issue.

"It is deeply frustrating to see TikTok accounts openly glorifying stolen bikes and illegal riding, using the LE11 postcode identifier to signal their connection to the area."

He said constituents had reported them to TikTok but got either no response or were told content did not breach community guidelines.

Sandher said searching TikTok for the term "twoking", a play on the slang term TWOC (taking without consent), uncovered hundreds of accounts nationally with similar content.

Sandher added: "I am particularly concerned that TikTok's reliance on AI moderation is unable to distinguish between innocuous content and material that is, in context, promoting and celebrating criminality.

"An algorithm may see 'teenagers on motorbikes'; a human reviewer would recognise stolen vehicles, numberplates removed and content that incites dangerous and illegal riding."

A spokesperson for TikTok said "the vast majority" of the cited accounts had already banned for violating their guidelines.

They added that 99% of the videos that were removed between January and March had been taken down proactively, before they were reported to the platform.

"Our Community Guidelines clearly state that we strictly prohibit content that promotes or enables criminal activity, including the glorification of theft and criminal behaviour," the spokesperson said.

"We are actively removing videos and accounts that break our rules."

A spokesperson for Leicestershire Police said: "We have dedicated teams in force who monitor social media accounts as an intelligence source and act on information where appropriate."

It said further operations were in the planning stages.

Additional reporting by Pete Saull

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