Albania’s government decided Thursday to ban TikTok for a year, citing concerns that the popular platform encourages violence and bullying, particularly among young people.
Education Minister Ogerta Manastirliu stated that officials are working with TikTok to implement filters such as parental controls, age verification, and the inclusion of the Albanian language in the app.
According to the minister, authorities held 1,300 meetings with approximately 65,000 parents, who “recommended and favored the shutdown or limitation of the TikTok platform.”
The government’s decision was prompted by the stabbing of a teenager last November following a dispute that originated on TikTok.
TikTok has not yet responded to requests for comment on the government’s action.
When Prime Minister Edi Rama announced in December the intention to ban the platform, TikTok requested “urgent clarity from the Albanian government” regarding the stabbing incident.
Rama stated Thursday that the government is in “positive dialogue with the company,” and that TikTok will soon visit Albania to propose “a series of measures on increasing the security for children.”
TikTok stated that 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.”
Researchers indicate that Albanian children constitute the largest group of TikTok users in the country.
There has been growing concern among Albanian parents following reports of children taking knives to school inspired by social media content, and bullying incidents fueled by stories seen on TikTok.
Authorities have increased police presence at some schools and implemented other measures, including training programs for teachers, students, and parents.
The opposition party disagrees with the TikTok ban and has scheduled a protest for March 15, calling the ban “an act of intolerance, fear and terror from free thinking and expression.”
TikTok, operated by Chinese technology firm ByteDance, has faced scrutiny in numerous countries and was briefly offline in the United States recently to comply with a law requiring ByteDance to divest the app or face a ban in the U.S.
The app suspended its services in the U.S. for less than a day before restoring service following assurances from Trump that he would postpone banning it.
Earlier this week, the data protection watchdog said was investigating how the app uses the personal information of 13 to 17-year-olds to deliver content recommendations to them.
The Information Commissioner’s Office said that there are growing concerns around how social media platforms were using data generated by children’s online activity to power their recommendation algorithms, and the potential for young people to see inappropriate or harmful content as a result.
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