San Jose mayor wants Meta, Snapchat and TikTok to shut down sideshow content

Seeking to clamp down on sideshows’ wreaking havoc in San Jose, Mayor Matt Mahan is asking social media companies to shut down videos showcasing the raucous street gatherings that often attract hundreds or thousands to events and result in a deluge of widely shared videos. The request is raising a mountain of practical and legal questions from content moderation experts who contend that reining in the videos could be exceedingly difficult for companies to do effectively or ethically. Mahan sent a letter to TikTok, Snapchat and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, requesting they boot users off their platforms for 30 days if they share videos about sideshows — and indefinitely if users don’t stop after an initial violation. At sideshows — which originated in Oakland four decades ago — a driver or multiple drivers take over a blocked-off intersection and do stunts such as doughnuts, sometimes with passengers hanging out precariously from the car’s windows. They have led to injuries and even death and leave intersections with streaks of tire marks. “These events are fueled by social media,” an Aug. 30 letter from the mayor reads. “They are increasingly spread, consumed, and attended primarily for the purpose of generating
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