Albanian Premier Considers Banning TikTok and Snapchat

(Bloomberg) -- Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama is consulting with public schools about banning TikTok and Snapchat, calling social media networks threats to children’s safety.

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Rama’s criticism of the platforms follows the murder of a 14-year-old boy by a schoolmate earlier this month, an incident that sparked protests across the Balkan country. The suspected attacker shared images of his injuries on Snapchat after the incident and photos of himself holding a knife days before. TikTok videos surfaced featuring minors expressing support for the act, raising concerns about social media fueling violence among minors.

At a public meeting on Wednesday with teachers and parents at a school in the capital Tirana, Rama described a ban not as the sole solution but a method to narrow spaces which encourage “violence, bullying and foolishness in general.” Parents at the event expressed concern about the influence of social media on their children, agreeing that some form of intervention was needed.

The Albanian premier described all social media platforms as “problematic,” but singled out Snapchat and TikTok in particular for “spreading chaos.”

“TikTok outside China is like an organized activity to confuse the entire planet,” he said, comparing the unregulated version of TikTok outside China with its stricter Chinese counterpart. Rama himself has a verified TikTok account with 136,100 followers.

Although Albanian schools have banned phones for years, Rama said it’s now time to consider a fresh approach. The government will take no “drastic measures” until it has held further consultations with teachers and parents in schools across the country, he said.

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