Albania will ban TikTok after a teenager was stabbed to death at the end of the school day following a social media dispute.
Prime Minister Edi Rama announced that the government will shut down TikTok for 12 months starting in January, accusing the social media platform of inciting violence and harassment, especially among children.
‘For a year we will close it completely to everyone. There will be no TikTok in Albania,” he said on Saturday after meeting with groups of parents and teachers.
The major crackdown, the first of its kind in Europe, was sparked by the death of a 14-year-old boy who was stabbed by another student in November.
Authorities have held 1,300 meetings with teachers and parents since the stabbing, which followed a fight that began on social media apps.
The student was stabbed in the heart and died an hour later in the hospital, media reported. The fight was filmed and celebrated online by some TikTok users.
It has not yet been established whether the discussion began on TikTok. But Rama said the app is to blame, describing it as “the neighborhood bully.”
“Today’s problem is not our children, today’s problem is us, today’s problem is our society, today’s problem is TokTok and everyone else who is taking our children hostage,” Rama said.
Prime Minister Edi Rama (pictured) has announced that the government will shut down TikTok for 12 months starting in January.
The major crackdown, the first of its kind in Europe, was sparked by the death of a 14-year-old boy who was stabbed by another student in November. Pictured: A TikTok logo on the Albanian flag.
Following Tirana’s decision, TikTok asked for “urgent clarification from the Albanian government” in the case of the stabbed teenager.
The China-based company said it had “found no evidence that the perpetrator or victim had TikTok accounts and, in fact, multiple reports have confirmed that the videos leading up to this incident were posted on another platform, not TikTok.” “.
But Rama defended the move, saying: “Albania’s year-long ban on TikTok is not a hasty reaction to a single incident, but a carefully considered decision made in consultation with parent communities in schools across the country.” .
He added: “Claiming that the teenager’s murder has no connection to TikTok because the conflict did not originate on the platform demonstrates a failure to understand both the seriousness of the threat that TikTok poses to children and young people today and the logic behind it.” our decision to take responsibility for addressing this threat.
“Albania may be too small to demand that TikTok protect children and young people from the terrifying dangers of its algorithm,” he said, blaming TikTok for “reproducing the endless hell of hate language, violence, harassment, etc. “.
Albanian children make up the largest group of TikTok users in the country, according to national researchers.
Many young Albanians did not approve of the ban.
“We reveal our daily life and entertain ourselves, that is, we exploit it during our free time,” said Samuel Sulmani, an 18-year-old in the city of Rreshen, 75 kilometers north of the capital, Tirana, on Sunday.
“We don’t agree with that because it is a deprivation for us.”
TikTok is banned in several countries, including India, Iran, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Somalia. (File image)
But Albanian parents are increasingly concerned after reports of children bringing knives and other objects to school to use in fights or bullying fueled by stories they see on TikTok.
“Our decision could not be clearer: either TikTok protects Albania’s children, or Albania will protect its children from TikTok,” Rama said.
TikTok is banned in several countries, including India, Iran, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Somalia.
Australia also recently passed the world’s strictest social media law, banning those under 16 from accessing such platforms.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said there was a “clear causal link” between the rise of addictive social media and damage to “the mental health of young Australians”.
Companies found breaking the law, which will take at least a year to come into force, could be fined $50m (£25m).
The bill, passed during the last day of Parliament of the year, will come into force at the end of 2025.
In France, children cannot access social networks until they are 15 years old, unless they have their parents’ permission.
The United States is moving to ban TikTok unless ByteDance, its Chinese parent company, sells it by January 19.
Congress claims the app is linked to the Chinese state, but TikTok and ByteDance deny this.