TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania's prime minister said Saturday the federal government will close video service TikTok for a yr, blaming it for inciting violence and bullying, especially amongst children.
Albanian authorities held 1,300 meetings with teachers and fogeys after an adolescent was stabbed by one other teenager in mid-November after an argument began on TikTok.
Prime Minister Edi Rama said in a gathering with teachers and fogeys that TikTok would “remain completely closed to everyone.”…There will likely be no TikTok within the Republic of Albania.” Rama said the shutdown would begin sometime next year.
It was not immediately clear whether TikTok has a contact in Albania.
In an email response Saturday to a request for comment, TikTok asked for “urgent clarity 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 actually, multiple reports have confirmed that videos resulting in this incident were posted on one other platform and never TikTok.” “
According to local researchers, Albanian children make up the largest group of TikTok users in the country.
Albanian parents are increasingly concerned after reports of children taking knives and other objects to school to use in arguments or bullying cases, promoted through stories they saw on TikTok.
TikTok's activities in China, where the parent company is based, are different and “promote how to learn better, how to protect nature… and so on,” said Rama.
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 in an email response The Associated Press seeks comment. Rama's office said TikTok in China “prevents children from being sucked into this abyss.”
Rama said Albania would monitor how the company and other countries react to the year-long closure before deciding whether to allow the company to resume operations in Albania.
Not everyone agreed with Rama's decision to shut down TikTok.
“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 fundamental opposition Democratic Party. “It is a purely electoral act and an abuse of power to suppress freedoms.”
Parliamentary elections will happen in Albania next yr.
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