Tirana, Albania — The Albanian cabinet decided on Thursday to close to Tiktok for 12 months, blaming the video exchange platform for inciting violence and bullying, especially among children.
The Minister of Education, Ongerta Manastirliu, said they are in contact with Tiktok on the installation of filters such as the control of parents and the inclusion of the Albanian language in the application.
The authorities had held 1,300 meetings with some 65,000 parents who “recommended and were in favor of closing or limiting the Tiktok platform,” said the minister.
The cabinet began the move last year after a teenager stabbed another teenager in November after a dispute that began in Tiktok.
Tiktok did not immediately respond to a request to comment on the government’s decision.
When Prime Minister Edi Rama He said in December that they aimed to close the social media platform, Tiktok He asked “urgent clarity of the Albanian government” on the case of stabbed adolescents.
On Thursday, Rama said they were in a “positive dialogue with the company” that would soon go to the country to offer “a series of measures to increase safety for children.”
The company said that “it had not found evidence that the author or victim had Tiktok accounts, and in fact multiple reports confirmed that the videos prior to this incident were published on another platform, not on Tiktok.”
Albanian children understand the largest group of Tiktok users in the country, according to researchers.
There has been a growing concern on the part of the Albanian parents after the reports of children inspired by the content on social networks to bring knives to school, or cases of harassment promoted by the stories they see in Tiktok.
The authorities have increased the police presence in some schools and establish other measures, including training programs for teachers, students and their parents.
The opposition has not agreed with the closure of Tiktok and has established on March 15 for a protest against the movement. He said the prohibition was “an act of intolerance, fear and terror of free thought and expression.”
