European nation bans TikTok: a bold move to protect youth

Albania has decided to ban Tiktok for a year in a call to protect children from ongoing hatred and violence.

Following the stabbing of a teen in November, after a quarrel that started on social media, the pressure to ban TikTok has gained a lot of traction as bullying and violence have been on the rise in Albania.

However, the ban wasn’t a hasty decision. Those in power have had over 1,300 meetings with teachers and parents, and 90 percent of those spoken to were in favor of cracking down on the use of TikTok.

Prime Minister Edi Rama has declared that the ban was “not a rushed reaction to a single incident” and that this had been coming for a while as discourse pours out about the need to ban the platform.

Meanwhile, as the ban comes into effect, TikTok has hit back by pointing out that the conversations building up to the killing didn’t happen on the app.

It seems that they’re missing the point here, as it’s a general deterrent Albania is pushing for that’s not just pinned down to this one incident.

Videos of questionable content are rife all over the platform. From school fights to vandalizing school equipment, to slapping people in public, to promoting self-medicating for mental health issues to eating disorders to many other things.

Some youngsters in Albania disagree with the ban, however. One 18-year-old near the capital Tirana cited deprivation and said “We exploit it during our free time.”

What he perhaps failed to realize is that the end-user is the one being exploited. The common trend is to protect the youth as Australia has enforced a complete ban for under 16s.

Edi Rama is resolute in his conviction: “Our decision couldn't be clearer: Either TikTok protects the children of Albania, or Albania will protect its children from TikTok.”

Whether or not this is effective banning it across the board for all ages is the answer remains to be seen.

The USA still waits with bated breath to see whether or not TikTok will be banned following an appeal from the platform about an upcoming ban commencing January 19th, unless parent company Bytedance sells it to a non-Chinese buyer.