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Social media companies to take down NYC ‘subway surfing’ videos after rush of teen deaths
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Sep 5, 2023
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David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Sep 5, 2023
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New York City teenagers who post daredevil videos online showing them riding on the outside of subway trains may have a harder time going viral, Mayor Eric Adams and MTA officials said on Tuesday.
Social media companies have agreed to automatically take down videos that promote subway surfing, officials said. The MTA has for months requested that platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok remove the videos. The content crackdown comes after five teenagers died this year while riding outside subway trains.
MTA officials said 2,600 videos and photos of subway surfing have been stripped from the social media platforms in recent months.
“Young people are being subjected to massive doses of video and material that was glorifying this,” MTA Chair Janno Lieber said during a news conference. “They (tech companies) developed algorithms to weed it out and they’re working with us to take it down.”
The MTA is also launching an awareness campaign on the dangers of subway surfing, which includes public service announcements created by city school students as well as special MetroCards and posters with the slogan “Ride Inside, Stay Alive, Subway Surfing Kills.”
“It is about peer-to-peer communication, interaction to stop this horrific action that is taking lives and injuring individuals and that impact cascades out into their peer group,” Adams said during a news conference announcing the campaign.
NYPD data shows police have made 88 arrests related to subway surfing so far this year, up from 30 during the same period of 2022.
Schools Chancellor David Banks said the new initiative aims to reach students as they head back to school this week.
“Kids do the craziest things. That's why they're kids,” Banks said. “And so we've got to make sure that we're doing everything we can to support them and to give them the help that they need so that they can make better choices.”
The dangers of subway surfing were also highlighted in an exhibition displayed at the Oculus Transit Center earlier this summer, which showed footage collected by 17-year-old Kosse Laureano, who died last year while riding on top of a 7 train.
Social media companies took down 2,600 videos, according to the MTA. The agency credits Adams from brokering deals with Meta, Google, Snap and TikTok to remove videos.
Tagged
crime
new york city
transportation
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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