UK Orders TikTok to Delete Joyriding Videos
UK Orders TikTok to Delete Joyriding Videos
The News
The British government has told TikTok and other social media platforms to take down videos celebrating dangerous driving, after a wrong-way crash on the A66 in Teesside killed seven people — including two serving police officers.
Defence minister Luke Pollard said there is "no place" for the social media trend, which shows drivers filming themselves speeding the wrong way down roads, the BBC reported.
The Sun reported the government "ordered" TikTok and other firms to remove the content; the BBC described it as the government urging platforms to act.
Timeline
A police vehicle on the A66 in Teesside is struck by a Volkswagen Passat travelling on the wrong side of the road. PC Tom Clough, 38, and PC Matthew Blades, 37, are killed. The Independent reports seven people died in the collision.
Cleveland police and crime commissioner Matt Storey tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme the wrong-way driving trend is "absolutely idiotic," while stressing he cannot say whether it played any part in this crash.
The government publicly calls on social media companies to remove footage of the trend. The Independent reports that one of the young men who died in the crash had filmed himself joyriding for social media.
Reactions
Pollard, the defence minister, said there is "no place" for videos showing people driving the wrong way down roads.
Storey, the Cleveland police and crime commissioner, condemned the trend as "absolutely idiotic" but declined to link it to the A66 collision, saying he could not say whether anything like that was involved in this case.
The Sun put the question to its readers directly, running a vote on whether TikTok must clamp down on what it called "idiotic" daredevil content.
What's Next
The pressure now sits with the platforms. The government's demand is aimed at TikTok and other social media firms, and none of the reporting so far records a response from the companies.
Investigators are still establishing what caused the A66 crash. Storey's careful phrasing — that he cannot say whether the trend was involved — signals that the link between the videos and this particular collision has not been established.
More
The Daily Mail, reporting on the same trend, counted 10 teenagers and two policemen killed in two separate tragedies it attributed to drivers chasing likes online, and reported calls for action against reckless drivers who film themselves at high speed.
The story lands in the middle of a wider fight over how far governments can lean on social media companies to pull down legal but harmful content — the same argument now running in several countries over what platforms show young users.
Charleston White Arrested Again on Florida Battery Charge
Border Patrol Rescues MS NOW Crew in Desert
Sep 13, 2026
Supreme Court Restores Missouri's Old House Map
Sep 13, 2026
Alaska Drops Felony Voter Charges Against Samoans
Sep 13, 2026
Trespasser Breaches Harris' Malibu Estate; No Arrest
Sep 12, 2026
Hegseth Pressed Downed Airmen Into 60 Minutes
Sep 12, 2026
Houthis Seize Mokha, Choking Saudi Oil Exports
Sep 12, 2026
Altman Rules Out OpenAI IPO This Year
Sep 12, 2026
Jury Acquits Lil Durk in Murder-for-Hire Case
Sep 12, 2026
Judge: Trump Broke Law Halving FEMA Staff
Sep 12, 2026
Maher Calls Democrats' Gaza Genocide Claim a Lie
Sep 12, 2026
Blizzard Revives StarCraft, Sends Diablo to Netflix
Sep 12, 2026
Trump's Queens Childhood Home Sells for $1.93M
Sep 12, 2026
Scientists Find New Virus in Tick Invading US
Sep 12, 2026
Britain Bans Settlement Imports; US States Threaten Payback
Sep 12, 2026
Prison Fire Kills 7 as Kurds Protest Killing
Sep 12, 2026
Kosovo Rallies for Ex-President Before Hague Verdict
Sep 12, 2026
Cruz Booed at GameDay Over College Sports Bill
Sep 12, 2026
Blast Hits Bulgarian Arms Plant Supplying Ukraine
Sep 12, 2026
DOJ Loses Nearly Every Protester Assault Trial
Sep 12, 2026
Sep 13, 2026