Prime Minister Edi Rama has reacted on the "X" platform to the ban on TikTok in Albania, emphasizing that this decision came after over 90% of parents wanted this.
"TikTok has no explanation to ask from Albania, because in Albania, Albanians decide, not the owners of TikTok's algorithm. While Albania is too small to ask TikTok to protect children and youth from the frightening abysses of its algorithm, it hopes that TikTok will do this for the good of all humanity, including Albania," Rama emphasizes.
Rama's reaction:
"Banning TikTok for (at least) a year in Albania is not a hasty reaction to a mere event, but a decision widely consulted with parent communities in schools across Albania."
TikTok has no explanation to ask from Albania, because in Albania, Albanians decide, not the owners of TikTok's algorithm. While Albania is too small to ask TikTok to protect children and youth from the frightening abysses of its algorithm, it hopes that TikTok will do this for the good of all humanity, including Albania.
To say that the murder of the teenage student is unrelated to TikTok, because the conflict was not generated by TikTok, means not understanding the seriousness of the threat that that platform poses to the children and youth of today, nor the rationale for our decision to take responsibility for responding to that threat.
Fortunately, Albania is a democratic country, where when over 90% of parents demand a ban on TikTok and when the overwhelming majority believes that the health of our children cannot serve the platform, but the platform must serve the health of our children, then our decision could not be clearer: Either TikTok itself must protect the children of Albania or Albania will protect its children from TikTok.