NATO member bans TikTok for ‘perversity’

Critics have accused the Albanian government of political censorship

Albania is about to enact a year-long ban on TikTok in the name of protecting children and teens. However, critics of Prime Minister Edi Rama claim his real aim is to silence the political opposition ahead of an election in May, according to Reuters.

Rama announced the ban in late December, after what he said were weeks of consultations with parents and teachers. He said the decision was motivated by the fatal stabbing of a 14-year-old boy in November over a social media dispute. TikTok has objected, pointing out that neither the victim nor the attacker had used the platform.

“This creates a dangerous precedent that at any moment governments can close different platforms,” Orkidea Xhaferaj of SciDEV told Reuters, a Tirana-based think tank funded by George Soros’ Open Society Foundation and a variety of Western governments.

“He wants to close our mouth,” Arlind Qori, leader of the political party Bashke (Together), told the agency, describing TikTok as a powerful communication tool of the opposition.

The leaders of Albania’s two largest opposition parties, Sali Berisha (Democratic Party) and Ilir Meta (Freedom Party) have been charged with corruption. They have decried the charges as politically motivated.

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Businessman Ergus Katiaj also lamented the upcoming ban, saying it will deprive him of free advertising that adds around $1,000 to his monthly profits. Katiaj posts on TikTok every evening, reminding customers in Tirana that his shop delivers alcohol, cigarettes and snacks all night.

Rama’s government said the ban would go into effect “in early 2025,” but TikTok remains online as of Thursday.

“The ban on TikTok for one year in Albania is not a rushed reaction to a single incident, but a carefully considered decision made in consultation with parent communities in schools across the country,” the prime minister said in December.

After 1,300 such meetings, 90% of educators and parents supported the TikTok ban, the government told AP.

“Inside China’s TikTok, you don't see hooliganism, perversity, violence, bullying, crime,” Rama said in last month’s speech announcing the ban, referring to the platform Douyin. “Why do we need this?”

Both TikTok and its Chinese counterpart Douyin were developed by ByteDance, a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands.

The Chinese origin of the video-sharing platform has placed it in the crosshairs of many governments in the West. The US passed a law last year requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok in the name of national security, with a January 19 deadline.

Romania annulled its presidential elections in November after intelligence agencies claimed “Russian influence” was behind a TikTok campaign supporting independent candidate Calin Georgescu. The decision was not reversed even after it emerged that the campaign had been manipulated by the pro-Western National Liberal Party instead.