TikTok to face Oireachtas questioning over dangerous driving content after M9 deaths

TikTok is being asked to explain how it tackles dangerous driving content as a fundraiser for the crash survivors surpasses €225,000

The scene on of the crash on the M9 in Co Kildare (Niall Carson/PA)

Social media company TikTok has been invited to appear before the Oireachtas media committee next month to address issues on how it deals with content that “glorifies illegal activity”.

The chairman of the Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport, Alan Kelly, said that “meaningful action” is needed from social media platforms to ensure harmful content is not “amplified or normalised”.

He said the committee is seeking clarity on how TikTok identifies and removes content that glorifies irresponsible or illegal activity.

The meeting is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, September 23.

It comes after five teenagers were killed in a horror crash on Sunday in Co Kildare.

The teenagers died after the car they were travelling in was driving the wrong way down the M9 and was involved in a head-on collision with another car.

They have been named locally as Joe Carthy, Jack Kennedy, Alex McCarthy, Jeremy O’Brien and Kamil Pustkowski.

L-R: Alex McCarthy, Joey Carthy, Kamil Pustkowski, Jack Kennedy, Jeremy O'Brien

Four members of a family, who were in the other car, are being treated for serious injuries in hospital.

Mr Kelly said the invitation follows TikTok’s confirmation that it is closely monitoring content related to the deaths of five teenage boys in the head-on collision.

Mr Kelly said: “The deaths of five young people on the M9 was horrific. My thoughts are with those injured, their families, and the emergency services who responded to the scene.

“In the aftermath, serious questions have arisen about the circulation of social media content which appears to glorify dangerous and illegal behaviour on our roads.

“TikTok has said it is closely monitoring content related to this incident. As chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport, I have invited TikTok to come before the committee so that we can understand precisely what steps it takes when this type of content appears on its platform.

“We need to know how quickly TikTok can identify and remove videos that glorify reckless or illegal behaviour, how it prevents harmful content from being amplified to wider audiences and what safeguards it has in place, particularly for younger users.

“I expect TikTok to engage fully with the committee and set out the concrete measures it is taking to tackle content that glorifies dangerous and illegal activity. We need meaningful action from social media platforms to ensure harmful content is not amplified or normalised.”

L-R: Ella Hendricken, Niamh Kinsella and Alma Kinsella who were injured alongside a seven year old boy in the recent M9 crash.

Meanwhile, a fundraiser for the four members of the same family who were seriously injured has raised hundreds of thousands of euro.

The GoFundMe was set up by a friend of one of the injured women, who said the family are “facing a long and challenging road ahead”.

Sisters Ella Hendricken, Niamh Kinsella and Alma Kinsella, aged in their 20s and 30s, and a young boy were seriously injured when a car crashed into their vehicle head-on on Sunday.

The GoFundMe has raised more than €225,000 to date.

A family friend posted on the fundraising page when it was set up: “Hi my name is Bryan and I’m setting up this fundraiser for my best friend Ella and her sisters, Niamh and Alma, who were recently involved in a serious road traffic accident.

“This has been an incredibly difficult and frightening time for Ella, Niamh, Alma and their family.

“They are facing a long and challenging road ahead, and right now I ask that you keep them all in your thoughts and prayers. All funds going directly to the family.”