Government demand social media firms remove chilling joyride vids after deadly A66 crash

Government demand social media firms remove chilling joyride vids after deadly A66 crash Social media companies including TikTok have been told to take down dangerous content showing people driving on the wrong side of the road after a tragic crash killed seven people including two police officers Social media companies including TikTok have been told to take down dangerous content showing people driving on the wrong side of the road after a tragic crash killed seven people including two police officers. Defence minister Luke Pollard this morning warned social media firms they should remove posts featuring a trend that "celebrates dangerous behaviour on our roads". He criticised that users can earn cash for clocking up views on such content. PC Matthew Blades, 37, PC Tom Clough, 38, were killed in the early hours of Saturday when a Passat travelling the wrong way down the dual carriageway crashed head-on into their police vehicle. Their families paid tribute to the hero officers on Sunday. Two men and three teenagers, who were in the other car, also died in the crash on the A66 in South Bank, near Middlesbrough. Over the weekend, it emerged that at least one of the Passat passengers is believed to have previously posted videos of him on TikTok recklessly speeding. In one clip, filmed in May by a passenger and set to rap music, an 18-year-old is seen in an Audi being driven at speed through a housing estate with a police car's blue lights flashing in pursuit. Mr Pollard told BBC Radio 5 Live he wants to see social media platforms "step up". He said: “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. “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.” Asked about what content should be removed, Mr Pollard said a police probe will conclude precisely what happened in this tragedy but continued: "We know more broadly that 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. "Now, that's a decision that social media companies have now. They've argued for many years that they don't need to be regulated. They can police themselves. So this is a challenge for them. Remove that content. They know exactly what content is on their site. "They know how their algorithm works. They also know that people post content to get views, and the more views you can get, sometimes you get money for it. So it's a financial incentive for people to post outrageous content that gets more people watching it." He added: “I want to see social media companies step up... 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." Under the Online Safety Act, tech firms must assess and mitigate the risk of people in the UK encountering illegal content on their platforms, and take illegal content down swiftly when they become aware of it. For content to be illegal, the content itself must amount to a criminal offence. The responsibility is on platforms to decide whether content breaks UK law. A spokesman from Ofcom, the media regulator, 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.” Cleveland Police on Sunday released the names and ages of those who died in the VW Passat. They are: Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Theo Rae, 17, Cole Robert Worthy, 16, Jacob Matusiak, 23, and 18-year-old Makai Saddington. A police spokesman said: "Family Liaison Officers are continuing to work with the families all of those who sadly lost their lives in the collision. "