SOCIAL MEDIA SITE TikTok has removed several videos and blocked or suspended a number of users who were uploading violent content of brawls on Dublin streets.
Yesterday, TheJournal reported that gardaí had launched a crackdown on roaming gangs of teenagers who are assaulting people at random and then posting the footage to TikTok.
As a result, local councillors who have been calling for garda help in containing the violence, were contacted by representatives of the social media giant.
Councillor Seamas McGrattan, who is on Cabra’s Local Policing Committee, said he was contacted by the site and was told a significant number of pages had been removed.
These accounts were posting videos of serious levels of violence. Many of the teenagers who featured on the videos were armed with bats as well as implements such as screwdrivers.
Gangs of young people, sometimes numbering in their dozens, have been assaulting random people in the Cabra area since before Christmas.
The attacks, according to locals, have become more serious in recent weeks.
In January, one boy was put in an induced coma after suffering serious head injuries in one incident.
In another incident, a teenager was stabbed in the head with a screwdriver.
In response to a query from this publication, a spokesman for TikTok said: “TikTok’s Community Guidelines categorically prohibit violent content and hate speech on the platform.
“We do not allow people to use our platform to threaten or incite violence or promote any form of criminal activity. Any content found to be in violation of this will be removed immediately and action will be taken against violative accounts.”
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