San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan is seeking to curb “sideshows” by asking social media companies to ban users who post video content showcasing the illegal street shutdowns.
Sideshows have been menacing the streets of San Jose, shutting down intersections early in the morning and filling them with skid marks, smoke in the air, and sounds of car tires screeching. They are often accompanied by loud music, fireworks, and gunshots.
At a press conference in August, Mr. Mahan announced that he has invited representatives from Meta, Snapchat, and TikTok to come to City Hall to discuss strategies to curb sideshow content on their platforms. He said they have all agreed to his request for dialog.
A representative for Meta told The Epoch Times in an email that they were in contact with the mayor’s office about the situation.
In San Jose in November 2022, in one of the largest sideshows to date, the San Jose Police Department (SJPD) issued 720 citations, impounded 19 vehicles, and recovered one handgun.
Mr. Mahan wrote in a letter to Snapchat: “These events are fueled by social media. They are increasingly spread, consumed, and attended primarily for the purpose of generating content to gain social media notoriety. We want to work with you to find a solution for the good of our entire city.”
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He said the people who chose to participate are not only putting their own lives in danger but also the lives of the community, for the sake of likes and clicks.
He said in the conference that his aim is to have content pulled down as quickly as possible to disincentivize the posting of the content. With no outlet for people to “like” and “share” the sideshow videos, the events themselves will decrease, he said.
He is also calling on the citizens of San Jose to report sideshows to the SJPD as soon as possible.
SJPD Chief Anthony Mata said at a press conference: “Just this year, so far we responded to 184 sideshow events. Last year, we responded to over 200 of those events.”
San Jose made spectating at sideshows illegal in 2019 and followed up two years later by banning their promotion. A violation could land you a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail.
The 2019 ordinance prohibiting spectators followed an incident on Halloween the prior year, when about 200 people participated in a sideshow that spanned parts of Highway 101 as well as Oakland, Gish, and Senter roads and concluded when one of the participants struck a passing car and killed an innocent bystander.
Also, at a sideshow in April 2022 that shut down the street at Lundy Avenue and Concourse Drive, three people were seriously injured and spectators aimed lasers and fired gunshots at an SJPD helicopter.
In addition, police have recovered drugs and illegal firearms from these gatherings, according to Mahan’s office.
Lilia Gaspar, a Seven Trees Neighborhood Association board member, said at the press conference that her family has been greatly affected by the growing number of reckless sideshows. She said her neighborhood has sideshows every weekend.
Her son’s car was stolen and used in a sideshow, which led to him being harassed by the police and having to pay to get the car back.
She also said she has been stuck in sideshows multiple times.
On one occasion, she encountered a sideshow on Great America Parkway that blocked her from taking her 90-year-old mother to the hospital in an emergency situation.
She thinks the solution should be more than just social media.
Ms. Gaspar said, “Actually, I think it would be more police, more engagement, to be honest with you, because we’ve had calls and sometimes they do show, sometimes they don’t show.”
In the letter to Snapchat, Mr. Mahan brought to the company’s attention that this content is in violation of their own community guidelines.
He said Snapchat states that it is not the place for violence, and that promotion of criminal activities that may harm people, animals, or property is not allowed. As a result, he believes sharing locations and clips of sideshows, which promote activity that has already killed participants and bystanders, is in violation of those specific guidelines.
Mr. Mahan stated that investigators have concluded that posts can attract hundreds of people in just a few minutes. He is asking the social media companies to work with the SJPD to suspend the accounts of people who post sideshow content, for 30 days for the first offense and permanently if they continue to use the platform to promote sideshows.
He clarified that the content he is concerned about is publicly posted videos and not private messages between users on the platform.
Mr. Mahan stated that San Jose was built to accommodate many people, so the city has many large intersections ripe for sideshows.
According to a news announcement from the SJPD, in April 2022, they reported five sideshows in one night. One of the participants in a sideshow at the intersection of Capitol Expressway and Capitol Avenue was arrested for two counts of assault with a deadly weapon on an officer, felony hit and run, and possession of a privately made firearm.
Originating in Oakland, a sideshow is an illegal gathering of cars that shuts down a parking lot or intersection. Drivers perform donuts and other stunts with passengers sometimes hanging out the window. Sometimes a spectator follows dangerously close to the cars that are skidding across the intersection just to get a closeup video on his or her cell phone.
Sideshows attract large crowds of spectators who might shoot off fireworks, shine lasers, or discharge firearms. Many sideshows take place at night or early in the morning, drawing complaints from neighbors about loud noises, music, screeching tires, and speeding cars.
Some commentators on sideshows have mentioned that participants are chasing an adrenaline rush with the wild behavior.
The Epoch Times reached out to TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and the San Jose mayor’s office for comment but did not hear back by press time.
