Albania’s prime minister has said the government will shut down the social media service TikTok for one year, blaming it for inciting violence and bullying, especially among children.
Albanian authorities held 1,300 meetings with teachers and parents following the stabbing death of a teenager in November by another teenager after a quarrel that started on TikTok.
Prime Minister Edi Rama, speaking at a meeting with teachers and parents, said TikTok “would be fully closed for all. … There will be no TikTok in the Republic of Albania”. Mr Rama said the shutdown would begin at some point next year.
TikTok has asked for “urgent clarity from the Albanian government” on the case of the stabbed teenager. The company said it had “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”.
Albanian children comprise the largest group of TikTok users in the country, according to domestic researchers.
There has been increasing concern from Albanian parents after reports of children taking knives and other objects to school to use in arguments or cases of bullying promoted by stories they see on TikTok.
TikTok’s operations in China, where its parent company is based, are different, “promoting how to better study, how to preserve nature … and so on,” according to Mr Rama.
Albania is too small a country to impose on TikTok a change of its algorithm so that it does not promote “the reproduction of the unending hell of the language of hatred, violence, bullying and so on,” Mr Rama’s office said.
Mr Rama’s office said that in China TikTok “prevents children from being sucked into this abyss”.
Authorities have set up a series of protective measures at schools, starting with an increased police presence, training programmes and closer co-operation with parents.
Mr Rama said Albania would follow how the company and other countries react to the one-year shutdown before deciding whether to allow the company to resume operations in Albania.
Not everyone agreed with Mr Rama’s decision to close TikTok.
“The dictatorial decision to close the social media platform TikTok … is a grave act against freedom of speech and democracy,” said Ina Zhupa, from Albania’s main opposition Democratic Party. “It is a pure electoral act and abuse of power to suppress freedoms.”
Albania holds parliamentary elections next year.