Prime Minister described the platform as a ‘neighborhood bully’, which spreads ‘crap and rubbish’
The Prime Minister of , Edi Rama, announced, this Saturday (21), that the government will suspend access to the platform for at least a year from the beginning of 2025, after calling the platform a “neighborhood bully”, which broadcasts “ rubbish and rubbish”. The announcement of the suspension of the platform, owned by the Chinese group ByteDance and with one billion active users worldwide, comes less than a month after the death of a 14-year-old student in a fight near a school in Tirana, the Albanian capital. , after a discussion on social media.
After the tragedy, a debate began in the country between parents, psychologists and educational centers about the impact of social networks on young people. “TikTok is the neighborhood bully,” Rama said during a meeting in Tirana with Albanian teachers, parents and psychologists. “We’re going to kick the bully out of our neighborhood for a year.” “In China, TikTok shows how students can follow classes, how to protect nature, how to preserve traditions, but on TikTok outside of China we only see junk and trash. Why do we need this?” asked the prime minister.
At the same time, the Albanian government will launch programs that “will serve for the education of students and will help parents to follow their children’s study program”, he added. The TikTok platform is particularly popular among young people around the world, attracted by its short, continuously played videos. The app surpasses all its competitors in its ability to capture users’ attention. According to a report by We Are Social, in 2024 Android users used the platform for 34 hours per month, on average.
Kosovo: 22 cases of self-harm
This dizzying success, however, is accompanied by criticism. Its detractors accuse TikTok of locking its users into content silos through obscure algorithms and of encouraging the spread of misinformation and illegal, violent and obscene content, especially among young people. Among Albania’s neighboring countries, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia also highlighted the negative impact of the platform on young people.
Two months ago, at least 22 cases of self-harm were reported in girls from different schools in the city of Gjakova, in southwestern Kosovo, all related to a dangerous challenge on TikTok. The local press in North Macedonia reported two weeks ago that dozens of teenagers were hospitalized for injuries suffered after taking part in the “Superman” challenge, which involves being thrown into the air by peers.
The Serbian city of Novi Pazar (southwest) experienced a commotion after several cases of teenagers taking part in the “asphyxiation” challenge in several high schools. In France, at the beginning of November, a collective of seven families took TikTok to court, accusing the platform of having exposed their children to content that could encourage them to commit suicide.
Meanwhile, Italy’s competition control body opened an investigation in March 2023 against TikTok, suspected of not respecting its rules for controlling “dangerous content that incites suicide, self-harm and eating disorders”.
Mental health
In the United States, where TikTok has 170 million active users, public school officials in Seattle, in the northwest of the country, filed a complaint in January 2023 against the platform and other social networks, such as Instagram and Snapchat, for “attempting” against the mental health of young people.
A law passed in April obliges the platform’s parent company, the Chinese company ByteDance, to sell the application by January 19, accused of allowing Chinese authorities to improperly compile data on American users. Otherwise, the platform will be banned in the country.
In Australia, a law prohibits access to social networks for minors under 16, one of the strictest measures on the subject in the world. The platform also accumulates controversies in other parts of the world. The European Commission has opened an investigation after suspicions of foreign interference in the recently annulled presidential elections in Romania. And in India, TikTok has been banned since 2020 following deadly border clashes with China.
Published by Luisa Cardoso
*With information from AFP
