Online and child safety experts have told that social media giants already have the power to take down viral videos of dangerous driving.
On Saturday, seven people died when a Volkswagen Passat drove the wrong way along the A66, before smashing into a police car.
One of the teens who died, Makai Saddington, 18, earlier posted TikTok videos that appeared to show himself in a police car chase.
In a separate crash, Joey Carthy, Alex McCarthy, Jeremy O’Brien, Jack Kennedy and Kamil Pustkowski, all aged between 15 and 18, also died after driving the wrong way along the M9 to get away from police in County Kildare, Ireland, earlier this month.
The teens had earlier posted videos of themselves in a car chase with gardaí, the Irish police force.
Can social media take down dangerous driving content?
This is what the government wants social media companies to start doing, with Number 10 having written to them yesterday.
Under the Online Safety Act, platforms must proactively screen for and remove harmful material.
They must also prevent underage users from being promoted illegal content, including dangerous driving, otherwise called joyriding.
But Bertie Aspinall, co-founder of SafetyMode, which makes software that blocks inappropriate content on phones, says social media giants already have the tools to take down reckless driving content.
‘We’ve known for a long time that social media algorithms can rapidly spread misinformation or extremely harmful “fads”,’ he says.
‘This appears to be another example that has very sadly resulted in loss of life.’
Monitoring this content can be tricky, Aspinall admits, but while some videos are generated by and labelled as , red flags like hashtags can make the real ones all too clear.
‘All of which can be used to automate and remove something evidently harmful very quickly,’ Aspinall says.
‘It’s beyond me why TikTok, for example, hasn’t done the same.’
For Scott Freeman, the CEO of digital wellbeing charity, The Cybersmile Foundation, there’s another thing platforms should be doing more of – and a change to how algorithms work could be key.
‘Recent tragedy and deadly online trends are once again highlighting the need for social media users to be able to control their own algorithms,’ he says.
‘Platforms will never be able to protect all users from all potential harms without giving users the ability to protect themselves by controlling their exposure to harmful content on an individual basis.’
uncovered multiple social media posts showing people driving dangerously following the two fatal collisions, some of which have since been removed.
Users have shared footage of people driving down the wrong side of the road with their doors open as police cars tail them.
Another motorist appeared to switch off their headlights and go into ‘ghost mode at 120mph’, joining what other bikers call the ‘100mph club’.
‘If I die,’ a TikTok video of a motorcyclist seemingly speeding down motorway lanes, its engine roaring, says, ‘just know I sounded like this.’
Why are teenagers driving dangerously?
The answer is simple, says Sophie Stocks, VP of education and wellbeing at the child tech safety provider Smoothwall.
‘For many young people, what appears in their social media feeds can shape their perceptions of what is acceptable and normal,’ she says.
The shock value makes these posts go viral, Stocks adds, encouraging copycats.
These users aren’t alone. One in seven drivers aged 17 to 24 film or photograph themselves with their phone while driving, according to IAM RoadSmart.
Drivers being ‘distracted’ on the road is, sadly, nothing new, Nicholas Lyes, the charity’s policy director, says.
‘But it is horrifying that some people are now actively filming and flaunting such dangerous behaviours online,’ he adds.
Reckless driving can end in a serious collision, Becky Guy, senior policy manager of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, adds.
‘No amount of likes, views or online attention is worth that,’ she says.
‘Safe driving should always come before creating or sharing content on social media.’
What are social media platforms doing?
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, prohibits people from posting about high-risk viral challenges and restricts under-18 users from seeing dangerous driving content.
TikTok has not yet responded to a request for comment.
The company vowed last week to remove content that glorifies violence or promotes crimes that could harm people, as well as risky viral challenges.
More than 99% of violent or criminal content it removes is done proactively.
Analyses by The Times show TikTok is banning users who post driving recklessly and deleting harmful posts.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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