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Albania blocks TikTok for a year due to violence among children
Albania is suspending TikTok for a year to combat violence and bullying among children. Education politicians are calling for measures to improve security on social media.
Albania blocks TikTok for a year due to violence among children
The Albanian government decided on Thursday to block TikTok for 12 months. The popular video-sharing service has been blamed for promoting violence and bullying, particularly among children.
Measures to improve security
Education Minister Ogerta Manastirliu stated that the authorities are in contact with TikTok to implement security measures such as parental controls, age verification and the integration of the Albanian language into the application.
Parents' reactions
Official information says 1,300 meetings were held with about 65,000 parents advocating for TikTok to be shut down or limited. These results formed an important part of the government's decision.
Background of the decision
The move to shut down was initiated after a teenager stabbed another teen last November following an argument on TikTok. While Prime Minister Edi Rama said in December that they were seeking to close the platform, TikTok called for “urgent clarity from the Albanian government” on the incident.
Dialogue with TikTok
On Thursday, Rama confirmed that they were in “positive dialogue with the company”. TikTok plans to visit Albania soon to offer “a range of measures to improve safety for children.” The company also noted that they "found no evidence that the perpetrator or victim owned TikTok accounts" and multiple reports confirmed that the videos related to the incident were posted on another platform.
Parental concerns
Albanian children represent TikTok's largest user group in the country, according to research. In recent months, there has been a growing concern among Albanian parents after reports emerged of children inspired by content on social media bringing knives to school and cases of bullying encouraged by stories on TikTok.
Increased security precautions
Authorities have increased police presence at some schools and implemented additional measures such as training programs for teachers, students and their parents to improve security levels.
Opposition protests
The opposition has opposed the shutdown of TikTok and is planning a protest against the move on March 15. She called the ban an “act of intolerance, fear and terror against free thought and expression.”
International challenges for TikTok
TikTok, operated by Chinese technology company ByteDance, faces questions and challenges in many countries. Recently, the app was briefly offline in the US to comply with a law requiring ByteDance to divest the app or be banned in the US. TikTok suspended its service in the US for less than a day before restoring it following assurances from Donald Trump that a ban would be postponed.
Data protection concerns in the UK
Earlier this week, the UK Data Protection Office announced it was investigating how the app used personal information from 13- to 17-year-olds to provide them with content recommendations. There are growing concerns about how social media uses data from children's online activities to drive their recommendation algorithms and the risk of young people seeing inappropriate or harmful content.