Politics Albania wants to block access to Tiktok for one year
The Balkan country of Albania intends to block access to the Tiktok video platform for a year in the near future. This was announced by Prime Minister Edi Rama. Following appropriate technical preparations, the platform will no longer be accessible in Albania in six to eight weeks, said Rama in the capital Tirana. The portal, which is successful with short videos, belongs to the China-based Bytedance Group.
21.12.2024, 20:39
SDA
The content that Tiktok offers in China is completely different to that which is distributed outside of China. "There is only filth and excrement," Rama was quoted as saying by the state news agency ATA. Children and young people in particular would be endangered and "held hostage".
Discussions about the possible harmful effects of Tiktok arose in Albania after a 14-year-old schoolboy was killed in a stabbing almost a month ago. The two groups of young people involved had antagonized each other on Tiktok and arranged to fight each other in what ended up being a fatal brawl.
It initially remained unclear how the Tiktok ban would be implemented in Albania. In addition, there are always loopholes with such bans: in countries where certain content is blocked, users often resort to protected network connections (VPN) to circumvent such blocks. VPN tunnels can make it look as if a user is in another country.
