Albania to close TikTok for a year, says it promotes violence and bullying among children

There has been increasing concern from Albanian parents after reports of children taking knives to school to use in quarrels or cases of bullying promoted by stories they see on TikTok. Albania’s prime minister said Saturday the government will shut down the video service TikTok for one year, blaming it for inciting violence and bullying, especially among children. The company said it had “found no evidence that the perpetrator or victim had TikTok accounts, and multiple reports have in fact confirmed videos leading up to this incident were being posted on another platform, not TikTok.” Children comprise the largest group of TikTok users in Albania, according to domestic researchers. There has been increasing concern from Albanian parents after reports of children taking knives and other objects to school to use in quarrels or cases of bullying promoted by stories they see on TikTok. Albania is too small a country to impose on TikTok a change of its algorithm so that it does not promote “the reproduction of the unending hell of the language of hatred, violence, bullying and so on,” Rama’s office wrote in an email response to the Associated Press’ request for comment.