MEPs call on EU to investigate if social media algorithms are being used 'to glorify' dangerous driving

'We are writing to express our grave concern about social media content that glorifies dangerous and illegal driving, and the role of platform recommender systems in potentially amplifying and rewarding such behaviour,' the MEPs wrote.

The European Commission must investigate whether social media algorithms are being used to amplify videos of dangerous driving, a group of 30 MEPs has said.

MEPs have called for the commission to assess whether platforms have “adequately identified and mitigated the risk that their recommender systems may amplify, normalise, or reward such behaviour, particularly among minors”.

In a letter to the European Commissioner for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, the MEPs called for specific actions to be taken by the commission.

The letter, written by Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher and co-signed by 29 other MEPs, highlights the recent spate of wrong-way driving on Ireland’s motorways, particularly highlighting the M9 crash which saw five teenagers killed.

“We are writing to express our grave concern about social media content that glorifies dangerous and illegal driving, and the role of platform recommender systems in potentially amplifying and rewarding such behaviour,” the MEPs wrote.

“The recent tragedy on Ireland's M9 motorway, in which five teenagers lost their lives, and four people travelling in another vehicle were seriously injured, has brought renewed attention to videos depicting joyriding, car theft, police pursuits and driving in the wrong direction on public roads.”

The letter also referred to similar incidents in the UK and Belgium, adding it was not “simply a matter of individual pieces of harmful content”.

It raises a wider question about whether the design of social-media platforms, their recommender systems and their engagement incentives are helping to normalise, promote or reward conduct that places both participants and innocent road users at risk.

The MEPs noted there were currently proceedings under way against one platform, TikTok, while asking if amplification of content around dangerous driving was being examined within those proceedings.

They also questioned Ms Virkkunen about the “prevalence, reach, recommendation, monetisation and removal of dangerous-driving content across the European Union”.

There was also a call to set out further mitigation measures if existing safeguards were found to be inadequate.

“We must be careful not to prejudge the circumstances of individual collisions or ongoing investigations. Nevertheless, the wider pattern of dangerous and illegal driving being filmed and circulated for online attention requires an urgent and coordinated response,” the MEPs wrote.

Young people should not be encouraged to risk their lives, or the lives of innocent road users, in pursuit of clicks and online recognition. Europe's online safety rules must ensure that platforms neither profit from nor algorithmically promote potentially fatal behaviour.

All MEPs from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and Labour signed the letter, alongside Independent MEPs Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan and Michael McNamara.

Mr Kelleher said it was “clear that roads policing cannot deal with the root causes of why people engage in such dangerous driving”.

“The gardaí and other countries’ police forces can only do so much in terms of stopping reckless driving by people intent on gaining social media fame and clicks, so it’s up to the European Commission and the social media platforms to deal with the role that platform recommender systems have in amplifying and rewarding such behaviour,” Mr Kelleher said.

The Fianna Fáil MEP said there needed to be “more concrete coordination” between the European Commission, national regulators, road safety authorities and law enforcement agencies to deal with the issue.