Albania declares one-year TikTok ban

(Patria) - The Albanian Prime Minister announced that the government intends to block access to TikTok for a year after a schoolboy's murder last month sparked fears about the influence of social media on children.

Speaking on Saturday, Edi Rama stated that the proposed ban would begin in January. TikTok said it was seeking urgent clarification from the Albanian government about the proposed ban, the BBC reported.

The social media platform told the BBC that it had found no evidence that the person who allegedly stabbed the fourteen-year-old boy, or the victim himself, had TikTok profiles.

During a meeting in Albania's capital, Tirana, with teachers, parents, and psychologists, Rama labelled TikTok a "neighbourhood bully".

"We are closing it for a year and will start by introducing programmes that will serve the education of students and help parents monitor their children's journey," Rama said.

The TikTok ban comes less than a month after a student was killed and another injured in a fight near a school in southern Tirana that had roots in a social media dispute. The murder sparked a debate in Albania among parents, psychologists, and educational institutions about the impact of social networks on young people.

"In China, TikTok promotes how students can attend courses, how to protect nature, how to preserve tradition, but on TikTok outside of China, we only see scum and mud. Why do we need this," Rama said.

TikTok is already banned in India, which was one of the app's largest markets before it was banned in June 2020. It is also blocked in Iran, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Somalia.

TikTok is also fighting a law passed by the US Congress that would ban the app from January 19 unless it is sold by ByteDance - its Chinese parent company.

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear TikTok's last-minute legal arguments on why it should not be banned or sold, with arguments scheduled for January 10 - just days before the January 19 deadline imposed by Congress.

The US government is taking action against the app due to what it says are its ties to the Chinese state - ties that TikTok and ByteDance have denied.

Several European countries, including France, Germany, and Belgium, have imposed restrictions on social media use for children. Australia took the world's strictest measures in November, voting to ban social media use for children under sixteen.