UK Minister Urges Social Media Firms to Remove Dangerous Driving Videos
BBC News reports that Defence Minister Luke Pollard has called on social media companies to remove posts celebrating dangerous driving, following a recent viral trend featuring videos of people driving recklessly on roads.
Pollard stated during an interview on BBC Breakfast: "Social media companies could take that down today, adjust their algorithms so it's not celebrated."
Two police officers, PC Tom Clough and PC Matthew Blades, lost their lives on Saturday when a car driving the wrong way on a dual carriageway collided with their marked armed response vehicle near Middlesbrough. Five passengers in the other car, including Malakai Saddington, aged 18, were also killed.
A TikTok account believed to belong to Saddington shared videos of apparent dangerous driving, which have since been removed.
Pollard noted that the government has already instructed social media companies to remove such content and emphasized their knowledge of the content on their platforms and how their algorithms work. He added: "They also know that people post content to get views and the more views you get, sometimes you get money for it."
TikTok confirmed that its policies prohibit content encouraging significant physical harm, including dangerous driving, and that they actively remove videos and accounts violating these rules. The company revealed that between January and March 2026, they removed 99.8% of content proactively for violating these policies.
Pollard later expressed his concern on BBC Radio 4's Today program, stating: "It's absolutely idiotic for anybody to be doing anything other than being completely 100% focused on the road when they're behind the wheel of a vehicle."
He concluded by highlighting the danger of filming or encouraging dangerous driving, calling it "absolutely ridiculous" and "incredibly dangerous."