Albania announced a one-year ban on TikTok. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Albania on Saturday (December 21, 2024) announced a one-year ban on TikTok, the popular short video app, following the killing of a teenager last month that raised fears over the influence of social media on children.

Also Read | What happens next for TikTok after Supreme Court agrees to review potential US ban?

Prime Minister Edi Rama said after meeting with parents’ groups and teachers from across the country that the ban, part of a broader plan to make schools safer, will come into effect early next year.

“For one year, we’ll be completely shutting it down for everyone. There will be no TikTok in Albania,” Mr. Rama said.

Several European countries including France, Germany and Belgium have enforced restrictions on social media use for children. In one of the world’s toughest regulations targeting Big Tech, Australia approved in November a complete social media ban for children under 16.

Mr. Rama has blamed social media, and TikTok in particular, for fuelling violence among youth in and outside school.

His government’s decision comes after a 14-year-old schoolboy was stabbed to death in November by a fellow pupil. Local media had reported that the incident followed arguments between the two boys on social media. Videos had also emerged on TikTok of minors supporting the killing.

“The problem today is not our children, the problem today is us, the problem today is our society, the problem today is TikTok and all the others that are taking our children hostage,” Mr. Rama said.

TikTok said it was seeking “urgent clarity” from the Albanian government.

“We 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,” a company spokesperson said.

US President-elect Donald Trump recently met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

This meeting comes as TikTok faces a looming ban in the US due to concerns over its ownership by Chinese parent company ByteDance.

A law passed earlier this year stipulates that TikTok must be sold by ByteDance before January 19 to avoid a ban. TikTok has filed an emergency application with the US Supreme Court to delay the ban, citing the need for a review and allowing the incoming administration to assess the situation.

On Monday, TikTok asked the Supreme Court for a “modest delay” to “create breathing room” for a review of the ban by the court and the incoming administration to evaluate the decision.

It has also said that TikTok is one of the most significant speech platforms and the ban would cause “irreparable harm” to the company and users.

Interestingly, Trump has expressed opposition to the ban, despite initially supporting it during his first term. He believes the ban could inadvertently benefit Facebook, which he has accused of contributing to his 2020 election loss. Trump’s second term is set to begin on January 20, just a day after the deadline for TikTok’s sale or ban.

In a recent press conference, Trump stated that his administration would “take a look at TikTok.” He also acknowledged the platform’s impact, particularly among young voters, saying, “I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok, because I won youth by 34 points.”

“There are those that say that TikTok has something to do with that. TikTok had an impact.”

Trump boasts 14.5 million followers on TikTok despite joining the platform only in June.
 

Image used for representative purpose only.
| Photo Credit: AFP

China blasted Washington’s “bandit” mentality after the U.S. House passed a bill that would ban TikTok unless it splits from its Chinese owner, and vowed to “take all necessary measures” to protect the interests of its companies overseas.

The short-video app has soared in popularity worldwide but its ownership by Chinese technology giant ByteDance – and alleged subservience to Beijing’s ruling Communist Party – has fuelled concern in Western capitals.

Also Read | U.S. lawmakers see TikTok as China’s tool, even as it distances itself from Beijing

“The U.S. should truly respect the principles of a market economy and fair competition (and) stop unjustly suppressing foreign companies,” Beijing’s commerce ministry spokesperson He Yadong said at a press conference.

Washington should also “provide an open, fair, just, and non-discriminatory environment for foreign companies to invest and operate in the U.S.”, He added.

“China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” he said.

Logic of a bandit

At a separate press briefing, foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the vote “runs contrary to the principles of fair competition and international economic and trade rules”.

“If so-called reasons of national security can be used to arbitrarily suppress excellent companies from other countries, then there is no fairness and justice at all,” Mr. Wang said.

“When someone sees a good thing another person has and tries to take it for themselves, this is entirely the logic of a bandit.”

Prior to the vote, Beijing had warned that the proposed ban would “inevitably come back to bite the United States”.

China has blocked western online platforms such as Facebook and X for years on its heavily-censored internet.

U.S. lawmakers voted 352 in favour of the proposed law and 65 against, striking a rare note of unity in politically divided Washington.

The White House has said President Joe Biden will sign the bill – known officially as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act – into law if it reaches his desk.

But it faces a tricky path through the more cautious Senate, where some are wary of taking dramatic measures against an app with 170 million US users.

TikTok has consistently denied that it is under the control of China’s Communist Party.

Its CEO Shou Zi Chew has urged users to speak out against the vote, and several TikTok creators interviewed by AFP voiced opposition to the proposed ban.

Long-running tensions

The app is at the centre of long-running tensions between China and the United States, which have butted heads in recent years over technology, trade and human rights issues.

Washington has cited national security concerns to limit the activities of some Chinese companies in the United States, as well as the export of certain technologies to China that it deems sensitive.

European regulators are also concerned about the app, with the European Commission on March 14 quizzing TikTok and other platforms such as Facebook, Google and X on what they were doing to counter the risk of AI to elections, including through deepfakes.

China has repeatedly lashed out at what it views as a concerted attempt to “suppress” China’s rise.

Foreign minister Wang Yi said this month that Washington’s “desire to heap blame under any pretext has reached an unbelievable level”.

“The methods used to suppress China are constantly being renewed, and the list of unilateral sanctions is constantly being extended,” Mr. Wang said at a press briefing during annual political meetings in Beijing.