United Kingdom Defence Minister, Luke Pollard, has urged social media companies to remove videos that glorify dangerous driving, following a fatal crash involving two police officers and five other people in northern England.
Pollard made the call after a trend emerged online involving motorists driving the wrong way on roads.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Monday, he said social media platforms should act immediately to prevent such content from being promoted.
“Social media companies could take that down today, adjust their algorithms so it’s not celebrated.”
The minister was referring to the crash on the A66 near Middlesbrough on Saturday, in which police officers PC Tom Clough, 38, and PC Matthew Blades, 37, were killed after a Volkswagen Passat travelling on the wrong side of a dual carriageway collided with their marked armed response vehicle.
All five occupants of the Passat also died.
They were identified as Makai Saddington, 18, Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Jacob Matusiak, 23, Theo Rae, 17, and Cole Robert Worthy, 17.
A TikTok account believed to have belonged to Saddington contained videos appearing to show dangerous driving. The posts have since been removed.
One video, uploaded in March 2025, appeared to show a car involved in a police pursuit, with the vehicle being driven on footpaths and parkland in Ormesby, Middlesbrough.
Another clip appeared to show a joyride, with a speedometer displaying 100mph, while a separate car was later seen being set on fire.
Pollard said social media companies were aware of the type of content being posted and how their algorithms promoted material capable of attracting large audiences.
“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 get, sometimes you get money for it, so it’s a financial incentive to post outrageous content that gets more people watching it.”
He said the government had already taken steps to engage social media platforms over the issue and warned that authorities could use powers under the Online Safety Act to compel companies to remove content that remains online.
A Downing Street spokeswoman described the glorification of dangerous driving online as “utterly disgraceful”, adding that the culture secretary had made clear that such footage should be removed by platforms in line with their legal responsibilities.
She also said Ofcom had the government’s full backing to act against platforms that failed to meet their obligations.
TikTok said its policies prohibit content capable of causing significant physical harm, including dangerous driving.
The platform said it was removing videos and accounts that breached its rules, including the account believed to belong to Saddington.
According to TikTok, 99.8 per cent of content removed for violating those policies between January and March 2026 was identified and taken down proactively.
However, the BBC noted that videos can be removed for breaching a platform’s terms and conditions without necessarily being classified as illegal under UK law.
Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner Matt Storey condemned the practice of recording dangerous driving for social media.
“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% focused on the road when they’re behind the wheel of a vehicle.”
He added that filming dangerous driving was “absolutely ridiculous” and warned that the apparent rise of such behaviour online was worrying because of its potentially deadly consequences.
The incident comes after another fatal crash in Ireland earlier this month, when five teenagers died after a car travelled the wrong way down a motorway in County Kildare and collided with another vehicle.
Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly described the behaviour as “irresponsible and dangerous driving”, noting that some people may engage in reckless acts to gain social media attention.
Pollard said the latest incident presented an opportunity for social media companies to demonstrate that they could effectively regulate harmful content.
“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.”
Ofcom said platforms were required under the Online Safety Act to minimise children’s exposure to violent material and content promoting dangerous challenges.
The regulator said it had also launched an investigation into TikTok’s compliance with its child-safety responsibilities and would take action if evidence showed companies were failing to meet their duties.
