Albania will ban TikTok for one year after the killing of a teenager raised fears the social media app is a negative influence.
Edi Rama, the country’s prime minister, confirmed on Thursday that the video-sharing app will be prohibited from January as part of a plan to make schools safer.
“For one year, we’ll be completely shutting it down for everyone. There will be no TikTok in Albania,” Mr Rama said after meeting parents’ groups and teachers.
The ban – the first of its kind in Europe – was prompted by the death of a 14-year-old schoolboy stabbed by a fellow pupil in mid-November.
The two teenagers are thought to have fought at the end of the school day after an argument on social media.
The 14-year-old was stabbed in the heart and died an hour later in hospital, according to media reports.
The fight was filmed – and was celebrated online by some TikTok users. Investigations into the killing are ongoing.
It is not yet clear if the argument started on TikTok. But Mr Rama has argued the China-based social media platform is to blame, labelling it “the thug of the neighbourhood”.
“The problem today is not our children, the problem today is us, the problem today is our society, the problem today is TikTok and all the others that are taking our children hostage,” Mr Rama said.
TikTok said it was seeking “urgent clarity” from the Albanian government after finding “no evidence that the perpetrator or victim” was signed up to the app.
“Multiple reports have in fact confirmed videos leading up to this incident were being posted on another platform, not TikTok,” a company spokesman said.
Ina Zhupa, from Albania’s opposition Democratic Party, said: “The dictatorial decision to close the social media platform TikTok … is a grave act against freedom of speech and democracy.
“It is a pure electoral act and abuse of power to suppress freedoms.”
TikTok is already banned in several countries around the world, including India – where it was outlawed in 2020 – Iran, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Somalia.
Australia recently passed the world’s strictest law on social media, prohibiting under-16s from using any such platforms, while in France children are not allowed to use social media until they are 15, unless they have parental permission.
The US is moving to ban TikTok unless it is sold by ByteDance, its Chinese parent company, by Jan 19.
Congress has said the app is linked to the Chinese state, something TikTok and ByteDance both deny.
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