Death of 5 Irish teens in crash prompts social media warning

DUBLIN – A car crash that claimed the lives of five teenagers in Ireland early on Aug 16 has raised police concerns about the role social media plays in dangerous driving incidents in the country.

The teenage boys were driving in a car on the wrong side of a motorway outside Dublin when they collided head on with another vehicle carrying three women and a boy, according to a statement by the Gardai, Ireland’s police service.

“What makes this reckless behavior even more appalling is that in some cases, it is being done for social media likes regardless of the potentially devastating impact it might have on innocent people and themselves,” Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said.

He did not specify which platforms videos were being posted to.

The comment adds to growing global criticism of addictive designs in social media platforms and the effect they have on children.

Governments around the world are drawing up a range of restrictions on children’s use of social media platforms in the wake of curbs Australia introduced in 2025. Irish media has reported several instances of videos posted on social media of dangerous driving incidents in recent years.

A few years ago, social video platforms garnered critique after a “blackout challenge” trend led was linked several deaths of children.

Separately, ByteDance’s TikTok was fined €10 million (S$14.8 million) in 2024 by the Italian competition authority, for failing to protect the safety of children and vulnerable people from a dangerous viral challenge.

Many social media companies, including TikTok and YouTube, have set policies prohibiting content that shows or promotes dangerous stunts or challenges that could lead to physical harm after years of lax enforcement that came under political scrutiny.

In July, the European Union escalated a probe of TikTok under the Digital Services Act that is investigating if the platform’s recommendation systems are designed to maximise engagement by minors at the expense of their safety.

The victims in the second car remain in hospital with serious injuries, police said on Aug 16. It is the second head-on collision in Ireland in August involving a car travelling in the wrong direction. BLOOMBERG