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TikTok has declined to appear before an Irish parliamentary committee investigating videos on the platform that show people driving the wrong way on motorways, citing ongoing police and regulatory investigations into the matter, Irish public broadcaster RTE reported Thursday.
The Oireachtas Committee on Media had invited TikTok officials to attend a meeting next month to address content that committee chair Alan Kelly, a Labour lawmaker, said glorified irresponsible or illegal activity.
In a letter to Kelly, TikTok's head of public policy, Susan Moss, said the company could not appear publicly until separate examinations by police and media regulator Coimisiun na Mean had concluded.
Moss also argued that TikTok should not be singled out, noting that similar content circulated on other social media platforms and messaging services. "TikTok does not consider it appropriate to be the sole representative of the video sharing industry in such circumstances," she wrote.
Kelly called the decision "deeply disappointing" and urged the company to reconsider its position. He said TikTok should answer questions directly and demonstrate that protecting its users was a responsibility it takes seriously.
The committee's request followed a crash on the M9 motorway last weekend, in which a car traveling in the wrong direction collided with a vehicle carrying a family headed to Dublin Airport. Three women and a boy were injured in the collision.
The Oireachtas, Ireland's national parliament, has increasingly summoned technology executives to address concerns over platform content and user safety, a pattern seen across European legislatures as regulators scrutinize social media companies' handling of dangerous or harmful material.
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