PC Tom Clough (left) and PC Matthew Blades (Cleveland Police)

Social media companies have been told to remove videos glorifying dangerous driving after two police officers were killed in a horrific crash on the A66 in Teesside.

Defence Minister Luke Pollard warned TikTok and other platforms they must “step up”, accusing companies of allowing algorithms to amplify reckless driving because sensational content attracts views and money.

Ministers demand action as dangerous trend comes under fire

Pollard said platforms should remove clips showing drivers travelling the wrong way down roads and stop algorithms promoting such material.

He said the Government would use powers under the Online Safety Act to compel platforms to take down dangerous driving content if companies failed to act themselves.

The minister argued social media firms know what is being posted and understand how their algorithms distribute it. That, he said, creates a financial incentive for users to produce increasingly outrageous footage.

A deadly crash has brought the issue into sharp focus

The intervention follows the deaths of two Cleveland Police officers whose vehicle was struck by a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way along the A66.

Five young men in the Volkswagen also died. They were named as Makai Saddington, 18, Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Theo Rae, 17, Cole Robert Worthy, 17, and Jakub Matusiak, 23.

Police had begun following the Passat after officers spotted it behaving “suspiciously”. The pursuit was abandoned, but around 10 seconds later the vehicle collided with the armed response unit at 3.39am.

Families face devastating loss as support pours in

The deaths have triggered an outpouring of grief for the two officers, whose families said their lives would “never be the same”.

PC Clough was remembered as a hero with a “fantastic sense of humour”, while PC Blades’ wife described him as a devoted father and her “best friend”.

A Cleveland Police fundraiser supporting their families has now raised more than £230,000, with the money due to be divided between the two families.

The crash is being investigated by the police watchdog as ministers turn their attention to a wider question: whether social media platforms are helping turn dangerous driving into online entertainment.

Social media platforms told to take down clips of dangerous driving

Yet more censorship from the nanny state..they should certainly ban the deadly Isle Oh Man TT hell why not all Motorsports ?

winter Olympic sports, mountain climbing, deep sea diving, bath tubs vodka and razor blades...mandatory cotton wool bubble for everyone overseen by your very own 24/7 AI 'protector' that calls in an armed response unit if it detects a 'danger' nearby..yes ridiculous !

13 minutes ago, johng said:

Yet more censorship from the nanny state..they should certainly ban the deadly Isle Oh Man TT hell why not all Motorsports ?

winter Olympic sports, mountain climbing, deep sea diving, bath tubs vodka and razor blades...mandatory cotton wool bubble for everyone overseen by your very own 24/7 AI 'protector' that calls in an armed response unit if it detects a 'danger' nearby..yes ridiculous !

You have to stop idiotic, impressionable teenagers from killing themselves, and more importantly, killing innocent people.

While there is no official, aggregated global statistic tracking the exact number of accidents caused specifically by wrong-way driving for TikTok videos, a highly publicised fatal crash on 16 August 2026 has brought intense scrutiny to this dangerous online trend.

The Fatal M9 Motorway Crash (August 2026)

• The Incident: Five teenage boys (aged 15 to 18) were killed in a horrific, head-on collision after driving a BMW at high speed the wrong way up the M9 motorway in County Kildare, Ireland. [1, 2, 3]

• The Victims: The teenagers died at the scene. The oncoming car they struck carried a family of four—three sisters and a seven-year-old boy—who were travelling to Dublin Airport. All four sustained severe or critical injuries.

• The Social Media Connection: The Irish Police (Gardaí) confirmed this was part of a growing, deadly trend where young joyriders film themselves committing severe traffic violations—such as wrong-way driving and taunting police pursuits—strictly to gain views, traction, and "likes" on TikTok.

Broader Trend Context

• Multiple Incidents: Authorities in Ireland noted this was the second wrong-way motorway crash in just one week linked to dangerous driving exhibitionism for social media.

• Content Formats: The videos uploaded to platforms like TikTok typically feature dashboard cameras capturing extreme speeds, masked passengers filming from the back seat, and high-velocity navigation against oncoming traffic.

Whh not just bring pikeys under the existing laws. Sick of the multi tier law system in England.

Teenagers have been doing stupid things since the beginning of time

they think they are invincible and 'it wont happen to me'.

I'm more concerned about how the armed police response unit managed to crash into them..or more importantly how they failed to avoid the collision

did the TikTok teens deliberately drive head on into a police car for likes ?

if so how come they had better driving skills than highly trained police officers ? ( beginners luck )

In any case calling for yet more censorship is not the answer,they are cynically using this incident to ramp up control as they always do.

I wonder - is there any crime in Britain these days where the solution from the government is not "Clamp down on social media"?

It's almost like they have an agenda. 😄

4 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

I wonder - is there any crime in Britain these days where the solution from the government is not "Clamp down on social media"?

It's almost like they have an agenda. 😄

Censorship make world safe again and solve all problems.

7 minutes ago, Cameroni said:

Censorship make world safe again and solve all problems.

Invest in cotton wool businesses ASAP everyone will be mandatory wrapped soon enough 😋

22 minutes ago, Cameroni said:

Censorship make world safe again and solve all problems.

Not to worry. New cars will be coming out with AI kill switches in case you do something wrong or drive more miles than Greta wants you to.

38 minutes ago, johng said:

I'm more concerned about how the armed police response unit managed to crash into them..or more importantly how they failed to avoid the collision

Sounds like victim blaming to me.

The joy riders crashed into the police car, not the way you phrase it.

which one of these idiots was driving ? His remains should be strung up from a lamp post for a few months, that would have more of a deterrent effect than what amounts to a a pathetic attempt at censorship. That the incident is being investigated by the police complaints "watchdog" is a disgrace

there are a few things that should be wiped from social media , this bit outlines some of it ......

Social Media Tributes: Friends have expressed shock and heartbreak. One tribute described Theo Rae, Cole Worthy, and Makai Saddington as "the most kindest lads about" and stated that "life will never be the same".

not a word of regret, what a surprise ,,, not

40 minutes ago, johng said:

Teenagers have been doing stupid things since the beginning of time

they think they are invincible and 'it wont happen to me'.

I'm more concerned about how the armed police response unit managed to crash into them..or more importantly how they failed to avoid the collision

did the TikTok teens deliberately drive head on into a police car for likes ?

if so how come they had better driving skills than highly trained police officers ? ( beginners luck )

In any case calling for yet more censorship is not the answer,they are cynically using this incident to ramp up control as they always do.

The teenagers drove the wrong way up a dual carriageway, probably copying the trend on tiktok for showing off dangerous driving.

Yes, the young often do stupid things but deliberately driving the wrong up a dual carriageway, especially at night, is stupidity beyond any comprehension.

Comments by one of the joyriders' mothers after his death.

This sort of thing can easily be avoided , just set the government printing presses again and publish some more informative and sensitively worded pamphlets, if the "expurts" think that will persuade muslim rapists to moderate their deeply ingrained traditions and behaviour, it should be no problem to reign in any pikey joy riders that might be considering giving this a try

16 minutes ago, Bday Prang said:

This sort of thing can easily be avoided , just set the government printing presses again and publish some more informative and sensitively worded pamphlets, if the "expurts" think that will persuade muslim rapists to moderate their deeply ingrained traditions and behaviour, it should be no problem to reign in any pikey joy riders that might be considering giving this a try

Jeez, is there not a single thread that's safe from you bringing immigrants or Muslims in to it??

27 minutes ago, bannork said:

driving the wrong up a dual carriageway, especially at night, is stupidity beyond any comprehension.

It is par for the course in Thailand..they will often also have no lights or red headlights to add to the confusion.

3 minutes ago, bannork said:

Comments by one of the joyriders' mothers after his death.

Michaels mother appears to need reminding just who gets to go "up there" and who gets sent "down there" Not quite sure what "peace" she thinks he's entitled to but, bearing in mind where he should rightfully have ended up, she might want withdraw her request for him to a reserve her a seat

theres a fad fir driving in the wrong direction up motorways on social media ,the phone zombies take up the habit

1 minute ago, 3NUMBAS said:

theres a fad fir driving in the wrong direction up motorways on social media ,the phone zombies take up the habit

I'd say it will inherently be a rather short lived trend ,

22 minutes ago, johng said:

It is par for the course in Thailand..they will often also have no lights or red headlights to add to the confusion.

We're talking about joyriders in the UK, nothing to do with Thailand.

5 minutes ago, bannork said:

We're talking about joyriders in the UK, nothing to do with Thailand.

Yes but they do the same thing on an even more regular basis here

everyone living in Thailand should take note of maniacs of all persuasion driving against the flow of traffic at all times.

4 minutes ago, bannork said:

It's a terrible thing to stop idiotic youth in the UK and Ireland from killing innocent people, truly awful.

Yea, the key to ending reckless behavior is censoring social media. Yea, that's the ticket.

3 minutes ago, johng said:

Yes but they do the same thing on an even more regular basis here

everyone living in Thailand should take note of maniacs of all persuasion driving against the flow of traffic at all times.

Hello! This is a thread about UK youth intentionally driving the wrong way up dual carriageways and killing innocent people.

If you want to start a thread about Thai drivers please hop over to the correct forum.

2 minutes ago, TedG said:

Yea, the key to ending reckless behavior is censoring social media. Yea, that's the ticket.

Reckless behaviour that is copying videos on Tiktok.

No Tiktok, no videos to copy and compete with to show who is the biggest idiot and can kill the most people.

6 minutes ago, bannork said:

It's a terrible thing to stop idiotic youth in the UK and Ireland from killing innocent people, truly awful.

Everyone wants to stop idiotic youth ( not that it can be stopped) but we don't want

to usher in a censorship dystopian 1984 system that claims they can. (well some do)

Idiots will be idiots teens will do stupid things menopausal men will do equally stupid things and war mongering politicians do stupid things as we speak that are for more destructive.

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2 minutes ago, bannork said:

Reckless behaviour that is copying videos on Tiktok.

No Tiktok, no videos to copy and compete with to show who is the biggest idiot and can kill the most people.

So this particular incident should be plastered all over social media and any other media especially the consequences suffered by the perpetrators , Personally I can think of no greater deterrent , other than publicly evicting the families of these scum from their council houses

8 minutes ago, bannork said:

Hello! This is a thread about UK youth intentionally driving the wrong way up dual carriageways and killing innocent people.

If you want to start a thread about Thai drivers please hop over to the correct forum.

I would like to know how the highly trained armed police response unit failed to avoid collision with the 'youth' .

I was just pointing out that wrong way driving is very common on Thai roads and everyone who drives in Thailand should be 'heads up' about it.

3 minutes ago, johng said:

Everyone wants to stop idiotic youth ( not that it can be stopped) but we don't want

to usher in a censorship dystopian 1984 system that claims they can. (well some do)

Idiots will be idiots teens will do stupid things menopausal men will do equally stupid things and war mongering politicians do stupid things as we speak that are for more destructive.

Exactly and burying our heads in the sand and pretending that stuff never happens, is not going to help matters at all. Sing it from the roof tops I say , Benefits cancelled , Council houses denied , lifetime driving bans , and lengthy 10year plus prison sentences without remission and a life time internet ban for anybody attempting this sort of behaviour. far more of a deterrent and why should the rest of society suffer I don't agree with collective punishment well i do but not when it affects me

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Bday Prang

11 minutes ago, bannork said:

Reckless behaviour that is copying videos on Tiktok.

No Tiktok, no videos to copy and compete with to show who is the biggest idiot and can kill the most people.

Should the news showing the videos of reckless behavior also be banned?

Video appears to show police chase minutes before fatal A...

Several police vehicles are seen chasing a car just three minutes before the crash on the A66 near Middlesbrough.