9 hours agoWorld media record TikTok ban in Albania: First of its kind in Europe
Periskopi(a year ago)
(a year ago)Albania will ban TikTok for a year after killing a teenager raised fears that the social media app has a negative impact. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama confirmed on Thursday that the video sharing application will be banned from January as part of a plan to make schools safer. [...]
Albania will ban TikTok for a year after killing a teenager raised fears that the social media app has a negative impact.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama confirmed on Thursday that the video sharing application will be banned from January as part of a plan to make schools safer.
For a year, we'll shut it down for everyone. There will be no Tik Tok in Albania”, Mr Rama said after meeting with parents' groups and teachers.
The first such ban in Europe was prompted by the death of a 14-year-old student stabbed by another student in mid-November.
Two teenagers are thought to have clashed at the end of the school day after a social networking debate. Investigations into the murder are continuing.
It's not clear yet if the conflict started in TikTok. But Mr. Rama has argued that the China-based social media platform has the blame, labelling it as the <x0-tracker of the neighborhood”.
The problem today is not our children, the problem today is us, the problem today is our society, the problem today is TikTok and everyone else taking our children hostage”, Rama said.
TickTok said he was looking for an urgent “clarification” from the Albanian government after finding no “evidence that the author or victim” was registered on the app.
Numerous reports have actually confirmed that the videos that led to this incident were being posted on another platform, not TikTok,” said a company spokesman.
Ina Zhupa, from the Albanian opposition Democratic Party, said that the dictatorial <x0vendation for closing the TikTok social media platform is a serious act against freedom of speech and democracy.
The “is a clean electoral act and abuse with the power to print freedoms”, she added.
TikTok is now banned in several countries around the world, including India, where it was declared illegal in 2020. Also banned in Iran, Nepal, Afghanistan and Somalia.
Australia recently passed the world's strictest social media law, which prohibits children under 16 from using any such platform, while in France children are not allowed to use social networks until the age of 15 unless they have parental permission.
The US is moving to stop TikTok unless it is sold by ByteDance, its mother Chinese company, until January 19th.
Congress said the app is connected to the Chinese state, something TikTok and ByteDance deny.
