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THE MEDIA REGULATOR has said it is in “close contact” with social media company TikTok about the deadly trend of young men and teenagers driving stolen cars the wrong way on motorways and posting videos online.

Coimisiún na Meán said it has contacted the company “to seek a full account of how they are dealing with these issues, including how they are dealing with reports of illegal content and how they are applying their own community guidelines”.

The regulator said it has requested information about whether TikTok has “introduced or scaled up proactive monitoring or additional human review of content or accounts”.

“We are also inquiring whether they have reported any relevant information or suspicion of criminal activity to An Garda Síochána,” a spokesperson said, adding that the commission was “in close contact with An Garda Síochána on this issue”.

TikTok has already banned the account of one of the teenage boys who died in a fatal crash on the M9 near Athy on Sunday and another account that posted a video taken from inside a stolen car that travelled the wrong way up the M50 the Sunday before last, The Journal reported this morning. 

The most recent of the two crashes led to the death of five young men in one car, while three women and a young boy in the other car remain in serious condition in hospital.

The Journal reported last week that gardaí across Dublin and surrounding counties are dealing with nightly car theft incidents as groups of teenage boys steal cars to record TikTok videos.

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