Amid an ongoing lawsuit holding Kia and Hyundai responsible for a surge of auto thefts in the city, Cleveland City Council is setting their sights on a suit against the social media platform, TikTok.
A resolution passed Monday urged Mayor Justin Bibb to sue the popular social media site, which some council members say is responsible for popularizing the so-called "Kia Challenge."
The social media trend has prompted users to take to the app to document their exploits or misfortunes of having fallen prey to the “Kia Boyz." The hashtag has garnered millions of views after a user posted a video explaining how to easily steal a car in under a minute using a USB cable on a key slot, exposing a vulnerability in Kias and Hyundais.
“They are aiding and abetting the car theft problem we are having in the city of Cleveland, and it’s become a major, major problem,” Council member Mike Polensek said during Monday afternoon’s finance committee meeting.
The resolution comes weeks after Bibb announced a lawsuit filed against the two auto manufacturers for failing to prevent theft of their vehicles. The suit demands a court order requiring a fix for the vulnerable vehicles, as well as compensation to recoup costs the city has incurred dealing with the ongoing issue.
In a committee meeting last month, Polensek said he wanted to take legal action a step further after an officer was shot and hospitalized while pursuing a suspect in a Kia theft, calling TikTok “irresponsible” for “promoting auto theft.”
Auto thefts in the city have nearly doubled in the last year. Between June and July, when the video was posted, Kia and Hyundai thefts jumped from 32 to 130. By the end of the year, more than 1,200 of the vehicles were stolen in a three month period.
In January, a TikTok spokesperson told The Washington Post that the trend violates their community standards and any video endorsing auto thefts will be removed from the platform.
