TikTok invited to Irish parliament over videos glorifying dangerous driving

Social media giant TikTok has been invited to appear before an Irish parliamentary committee to answer questions over videos that appear to glorify dangerous and illegal driving on its platform.

Alan Kelly, chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport, said in a statement that he wants the company to appear before the committee "as soon as possible," Irish broadcaster RTE reported Wednesday.

The invitation follows a fatal crash on the M9 motorway in County Kildare on Sunday that killed five teenage boys.

The victims were identified as Joe Carthy from Athy, County Kildare; Alex McCarthy from Carlow; Kamil Pustkowski from Limerick; Jeremy O'Brien; and Jack Kennedy.

Four people traveling in the other car, including a child, were seriously injured and remain hospitalized.

Kelly also highlighted a trend of videos showing people driving the wrong way on motorways, saying social media companies hosting such footage must address its circulation.

"The deaths of five young people on the M9 was an appalling tragedy," he said.

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

TikTok said it was closely monitoring content related to the deaths.

Kelly said the committee wanted to understand how quickly TikTok could identify and remove videos promoting reckless or illegal behavior, as well as what measures it takes to prevent harmful material from being amplified.

He also called for stronger safeguards 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," he said. "We need meaningful action from social media platforms to ensure harmful content is not amplified or normalized."