Albania bans TikTok for a year after killing of teenager
Albania has imposed a one-year ban on TikTok, blaming the video platform of “the reproduction of the unending hell of the language of hatred, violence, bullying and so on.”
The European country’s Prime Minister Edi Rama has insisted the temporary ban is not related to one incident after a teenager was stabbed to death in November after being embroiled in an argument with another teenager online.
Rama said: “The ban on TikTok for one year in Albania is not a rushed reaction to a single incident, but a carefully considered decision made in consultation with parent communities in schools across the country.”
It’s instead in response to authorities conducting 1,300 meetings with teachers and parents following the stabbing and 90 per cent agreeing to a ban.
TikTok has asked for “clarity” from the government as it claims it “found no evidence that the perpetrator or victim had TikTok accounts, and multiple reports have in fact confirmed videos leading up to this incident were being posted on another platform, not TikTok.”
Rama said: “To claim that the killing of the teenage boy has no connection to TikTok because the conflict didn’t originate on the platform demonstrates a failure to grasp both the seriousness of the threat TikTok poses to children and youth today and the rationale behind our decision to take responsibility for addressing this threat.
“Albania may be too small to demand that TikTok protect children and youth from the frightening pitfalls of its algorithm.”
The country’s temporary ban comes as TikTok awaits its fate in the US after it was given until January 19 to find a non-Chinese owner or face a ban.
TikTok – which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance – has requested a review, citing a breach of the First Amendment, and arguments will be heard on January 10.
Albania imposes one-year ban on TikTok
