The Government has told TikTok and other social media companies to delete 'dangerous' content featuring a trend showing people driving the wrong way down roads.
Fatal A66 crash
Defence minister Luke Pollard spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live following the fatal A66 crash near Middlesbrough, which claimed the lives of two police officers and five civilians. Cole Robert Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, and 23-year-olds Michael Robert Cahill and Jacob Matusiak were travelling the wrong way down the dual carriageway in a Volkswagen Passat when it collided with PC Matthew Blades' and PC Tom Clough's marked armed response vehicle.
Social media platforms urged to act
Mr Pollard, MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said social media platforms should act to remove posts of people driving the wrong way down roads. "We've communicated to those social media platforms that have been hosting content that celebrates this type of dangerous behaviour on our roads to take down that content", he said.
"I think we all need to give the police time, but there's also things we can be doing in the meantime to make sure that the internet is a safer place for everyone, that doesn't celebrate and load views and therefore financial incentives on people to generate such awful content."
He added: "I want to see social media companies step up. It's one of the reasons they've argued against some of the regulations, saying they can police themselves. Well this is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate it. Remove the content that celebrates dangerous behaviour on our roads.
"While that content is online, the Government will be using the powers in the Online Safety Act to compel the platforms to take it 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."
TikTok footage emerges
His comments came after TikTok footage emerged showing one of the men who died in the devastating A66 crash filming himself driving dangerously in the months prior to the tragedy. The video, posted in May, appeared to show 23-year-old Jacob Matusiak at the wheel, accompanied by the caption: 'Unfortunately I'm not a nonchalant boyfriend'.
The clip, seemingly filmed by the driver himself, showed a car speeding through a residential area in broad daylight, before veering onto a green in the middle of a housing estate. The vehicle appeared to head down a path as the driver steers with the hand not holding the camera.
Cleveland police and crime commissioner Matt Storey said it is 'absolutely idiotic' for any drivers to be taking part in the social media trend. Asked about reports that at least one of the young men had previously been involved in filming dangerous driving in TikTok videos, Mr Storey told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Yeah, there has been speculation around that, but what I've been trying to say all throughout this is it's really best for people to avoid that kind of speculation."
But talking about the social media trend, he said: "Without being able to say whether that was anything like involved in this case, it's absolutely idiotic for anybody to be doing anything other than being completely 100 per cent focused on the road when they're behind the wheel of a vehicle.
"And for somebody to be filming themselves or doing anything like that is absolutely ridiculous, and of course nobody should be doing that. And it is a worrying situation if that's becoming more prevalent because it is incredibly dangerous.
"As I say, it may not have been the case in this situation, we don't know, but anybody who is doing that, wherever it might be, is absolutely wrong to do so."
Crash details and vigil
The Passat involved in the A66 crash was spotted and pursued for just under seven minutes before the car drove on to the A66 in South Bank against the flow of traffic. Police aborted the chase and continued to travel on the correct side of the carriageway.
The Passat crashed into PC Blades and PC Clough's vehicle around 10 seconds after the chase ended. A silent prayer vigil will be held at St John the Evangelist Church in South Bank on Monday.
