Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama announced on Saturday that social media platform TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, will be banned in the country for at least a year starting early 2025.
"TikTok is the bully in the neighbourhood," Rama said during a meeting in the capital of Tirana with Albanian teachers, parents and psychologists. "We will drive this bully out of our neighbourhood for a year," he added.
Alongside the TikTok ban, the Albanian government plans to launch programmes to "serve students' education and help parents track their children's progress," the Prime Minister indicated.
The announcement follows an incident less than a month ago where a 14-year-old student was killed and another injured in a fight near a Tirana school, sparked by a social media conflict.
In the wake of this tragedy, a debate has erupted among parents, psychologists and schools regarding the impact of social media on young people.
"In China, TikTok shows how students can take classes, how to protect nature, and how to preserve traditions. But outside China, TikTok is full of filth and mud. Why do we need this?" Rama lamented.
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The app, with more than a billion active users worldwide, is especially popular among young people.
TikTok has faced numerous controversies globally, from its ban for teenagers in Australia to espionage accusations in the United States.
The European Union has also launched an investigation following suspicions of foreign interference in a cancelled presidential election in Romania. TikTok has been banned in India since 2020 after deadly border clashes with China.
