CLEVELAND — Hundreds of videos on TikTok, drawing tens of millions of viewers, show how easy it is to steal a Kia or Hyundai in less than a minute by exploiting a design flaw in the cars. Cleveland City Councilman Michael D. Polensek (Ward 8) has had enough.
"Come on — you've aided and abetted a criminal activity," Polensek said of the company.
Car thefts in the city have jumped 116% from a year ago, averaging about one per hour. Statistics show Kias and Hyundais are involved in the vast majority of such crimes.
"There is a great deal of frustration," Polensek admitted. "There's a great deal of anger being directed."
In light of the ongoing problem, Polensek co-sponsored and City Council unanimously passed a resolution earlier this month urging Mayor Justin M. Bibb and Law Director Mark Griffin to sue TikTok. This comes roughly a month after City Hall filed a lawsuit against Kia and Hyundai, making Cleveland one of eight cities pursuing legal action against the carmakers over the public toll the thefts have taken.
Supporters of the approach have cited successful rulings against drug companies related to the opioid crisis. However, Case Western Reserve University Law Professor Andrew Pollis thinks it can be somewhat dubious.
"Where does it end?" Pollis asked. "We're starting to see these other kinds of public nuisance cases in situations where, really, there is no duty, I don't think, on the part of the part of a car manufacturer to insulate a city from these kinds of expenses."
Plus, going after TikTok is especially challenging, thanks to a federal law generally protecting social media platforms from what its users post.
"It's not just TikTok going out and doing this," Andrew Geronimo, First Amendment expert at CWRU, told 3News. "It's somebody viewing something on TikTok and then going out and stealing a car."