Watchdog contacting TikTok over 'joyriding content' after five teenagers die speeding wrong way on motorway

The Irish media regulator is to contact social media giant TikTok over its efforts tackle videos of reckless and illegal driving.

The platform is under scrutiny after five teenage boys were killed when the BMW they were travelling in sped the wrong way up a motorway, smashing into a family driving to Dublin Airport for a holiday.

The family members - three sisters and a seven-year-old-boy - were all seriously injured and continue to receive hospital treatment.

The teenagers killed in the crash in County Kildare in the early hours of Sunday morning have been named locally, and by friends and relatives posting on social media, as 17-year-old Kamil Pustkowski, Jack Kennedy, also 17, Jeremy O'Brien, 18, Joe "Joey" Carthy, 15, and Alex McCarthy, 17.

Accounts belonging to some of the dead boys appeared to show videos of cars being stolen and driven illegally, and being pursued by police vehicles.

TikTok told Sky News that it was "closely monitoring" content relating to the incident and removing videos and accounts that break its rules.

TikTok said that it is removing videos and accounts that break its rules. The company claimed that, of the content it removed for violating its policies on violent and criminal behaviour, 99.1% was taken down before it was reported to the platform.

The Taoiseach - the Irish prime minister - as well as the Garda commissioner and the Minister for Justice all blamed social media for some of the behaviour of young men driving recklessly on Irish roads.

Earlier this month, another car with eight teenage boys on board crashed into a motorist on Dublin's M50 motorway, seriously injuring the innocent party. In 2021, three criminals were killed on the N7 outside Dublin while driving on the wrong side.

Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan said it is "clearly the case from a government perspective" that the responsibility for ensuring social media firms live up to their responsibilities lies with Coimisiun na Mean - the Irish media commission.

That body is now liaising with TikTok over its response to Sunday's crash.

Those in the vehicle hit by the car travelling the wrong way are believed to have been a family travelling to the UK for a wedding.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin said he was "shocked and saddened" at the horrific road crash, which he described as the result of "an irresponsible and dangerous act".

Mr Martin said dangerous driving, such as on the wrong side of the road, was sometimes "being done for likes on social media".

Read more:
FIFA sack Infantino critic
Charge over dog bite death

He added: "Every death on our roads brings untold grief to families and communities. There can be no tolerance for this reckless behaviour that we have seen on our roads recently. It must stop."

Garda Representative Association vice president John Joe O'Connell said on Monday that the crash involved a stolen BMW that was trying to evade police by driving the wrong way.

He said the BMW had earlier failed to stop for gardai and that it was his understanding that an instruction was given not to engage with the vehicle as it travelled the wrong way down the M9.

Mr O'Connell said there were "numerous gangs" of boys and young men "trying to outdo each other" in social media videos, depicting interactions with Gardai, pursuits and wrong-way driving.

The female driver and front seat passenger of the other car hit by the stolen vehicle, who are both aged in their 30s, remain in a critical condition.

A woman in her 20s and a boy, both passengers in the car, are in a serious condition.

(c) Sky News 2026: Watchdog contacting TikTok over 'joyriding content' after five teenagers die speedin