Albania’s year-long ban on TikTok was met with anger among young users of the video platform

Albania’s year-long ban on TikTok was met with anger among young users of the video platform

Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Saturday that TikTok would be blocked in the new year, blaming the platform for increasing incidents of violence and bullying, particularly among young people.

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The Albanian government’s decision to close video streaming site TikTok for a year was met with outrage from some of the platform’s users in the country.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Edi Rama said TikTok would be blocked starting next year, blaming the platform for increasing incidents of violence and bullying, particularly among young people.

“We don’t agree, me and my colleagues, because it’s not TikTok that causes arguments among us. TikTok is something through which we expose our daily lives and entertain ourselves. That means we take advantage of it in our free time. We don’t do that.” I agree with that because it’s a deprivation for us,” said 18-year-old user Samuel Sulmani.

Some other young TikTokers agreed.

“For us, TikTok is an app full of entertainment and fun,” said Laura Legisi.

While Dajana Marku said: “TikTok has no impact on daily life. It has no relation to events that took place.”

Albanian authorities held 1,300 meetings with teachers and parents following the mid-November death of a teenager who was stabbed by another youth following an argument that allegedly began on the video-hosting platform.

Rama told a town hall meeting that TikTok “would remain completely closed to everyone. There will be no TikTok in the Republic of Albania,” a move reportedly supported by 90% of parents and teachers the government spoke to.

Rama said the shutdown would begin next year, but did not give a date.

Dissatisfaction with the ban was also expressed at the political level.

“The dictatorial decision to close the social media platform TikTok is a serious act against freedom of expression and democracy,” said Ina Zhupa, a lawmaker from the main opposition Democratic Party.

“It is a purely electoral act and an abuse of power to suppress freedoms.”

Parliamentary elections will take place in Albania next year.

Following the Tirana decision, TikTok asked for “urgent clarification from the Albanian government” in the case of the stabbed teenager.

The company said it “found no evidence that the perpetrator or victim had TikTok accounts, and multiple reports have confirmed that videos leading to this incident were posted on another platform and not TikTok.”

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But on Sunday, Rama said the decision to block TikTok was “not a hasty response to a single incident” but rather “a carefully considered decision made in consultation with parent communities in schools across the country.”

“Either TikTok protects the children of Albania, or Albania will protect its children from TikTok,” he said in a post in Albanian and English on X.

According to local researchers, Albanian children make up the largest group of TikTok users in the country.

But parents’ concerns are growing after reports of children taking knives and other objects to school to use in arguments or bullying incidents promoted by content they see on TikTok.

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Albania is too small a country to force TikTok to change its algorithm so that it does not “encourage the reproduction of the endless hell of the language of hate, violence, bullying, etc.,” Rama’s office wrote.

Authorities have introduced a range of protective measures in schools, starting with increased police presence, training programs and closer cooperation with parents.

Albanian authorities said they would monitor how the company and other countries react to the year-long closure before deciding whether to allow the company to resume operations.

Albania’s decision came after several European countries, including France, Germany and Belgium, introduced restrictions on children’s access to social media.

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And in November, Australia went one step further and completely banned social media for all young people under the age of 16.

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