Social media platforms once again leave a mark on society with failure to take action on dangerous driving videos

The fingerprints of social media are once again leaving an indelible mark on society.

The death of the police officers in the A66 crash was a real tragedy. And while no one is suggesting that incidents such as this wouldn’t have occurred without the presence of social media, reports suggesting that one of those who was in the Volkswagen Passat driving the wrong way down the motorway was involved in filming dangerous driving in TikTok videos before the fatal crash, shows how pernicious these platforms can be.

Tech companies came with altruistic promises of connecting people and sometimes their platforms can be a force for good. However, the reality is that a lot of these platforms now resemble the wild west.

The craze of people filming dangerous driving and stunts is the latest in the line of harmful content that these companies are profiting off of.

The A66 tragedy is not the first incident of this kind. Earlier this month there was another tragedy of young people driving the wrong way down the motorway in Ireland.

The online safety regulator Ofcom says social media platforms are required under the Online Safety Act to minimise children’s exposure to content which encourages dangerous stunts and challenges.

This is now a test of whether the regulator has the teeth to be able to force these companies to take action.

What is evident is that rather than taking a proactive approach to tackling harmful content, social media firms have been playing catch up.

Now, we’re at a juncture where the virtues of their platforms cannot outweigh the tragic costs to society.

In all of this the two police officers, PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough, must not be forgotten. They died trying to protect their community.