Albania: protest against TikTok ban

It's Saturday evening in Tirana, the capital of Albania. Martin B. (14) is sitting on the sidewalk in front of the building that houses the office of the Albanian Prime Minister.

He is just one of several hundred demonstrators who gathered to protest the government's decision to ban TikTok for 12 months.

The Albanian opposition called for a protest after the leftist government of Prime Minister Edi Rama decided to ban the operation and use of this application for distributing short video clips - on the grounds that TikTok encourages youth violence in schools.

Martin says that he personally has nothing to do with politics, but also that the Albanian government's decision "is not a very smart solution."

"Banning TikTok will not solve the situation," he tells DW. "On the contrary, it will only create even bigger problems. Because young people will start using other pro-China apps, which is also happening in the US, and these apps could steal even more data and sensitive information from our phones."

A father's pain and disgust

The ban was prompted by the death of a 14-year-old boy, also named Martin, who was stabbed to death by another student at a school in Tirana in November last year after a days-long argument that escalated on social media.

A month later, the government decided to ban TikTok.

The boy's father, Angel Cani, told DW that "Martin never even had a TikTok account, he didn't lose his life because of TikTok."

"Our family condemns the instrumentalization of our son's death for political purposes," Cani said. "We have watched with deep pain and disgust as our tragedy is being misused for political purposes and to justify the government's decision to ban the social network TikTok."

What does TikTok say?

TikTok confirmed that Martin Cani did not use the platform. The app, which is owned by a Chinese company, issued a statement shortly after the Albanian authorities announced a ban in December last year.

It was emphasized that additional explanations are expected from the Government, given that the videos that led to the use of the knife "were published on another platform, not TikTok."

In January, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Kristine Gran, TikTok's head of relations with European governments, met. Rama described the meeting as "completely open and constructive," adding that the two agreed on further steps for cooperation in the weeks and months ahead.

Neither the Albanian government nor TikTok commented after the meeting, which was interpreted in Albania as an indicator that the government may be softening its stance on a possible ban on the app.

Pre-election censorship?

But when the government announced on March 7 this year that it intended to implement a ban on TikTok, opposition parties accused the government of having the motive for banning TikTok related to the holding of parliamentary elections in May.

Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha called the government's announcement "censorship" ahead of the parliamentary elections to be held on May 11. In these, Prime Minister Rama hopes to win a fourth term as prime minister.

While the government and opposition are arguing over a possible ban on TikTok, teenager Martin B. remains concerned that bullying and violence will continue to occur. “I’m not sure that banning TikTok will stop the incidents in our schools,” says Martin.