I have to explain to foreign brands that I cannot post on TikTok because the platform is blocked in Albania.”
Elvi Nuhu, 27, is a content creator in Tirana. Having amassed 115,000 followers on TikTok, he makes a living from social media. Speaking to iMEdD, he sounds anxious.
“The biggest problem is with foreign brands that want to sponsor their products or services on my TikTok. Because maybe foreign brands don’t know the situation in Albania,” he explains.
In early March, the Albanian government announced a year-long ban on TikTok, citing concerns over protecting minors from violent content and hate speech. The government decision began to be implemented gradually after March 13.
Opposition politicians in Albania, civil society members, and journalists who spoke to iMEdD argue that Prime Minister Edi Rama’s real objective is to silence government critics and manipulate the upcoming elections in May.
This abomination should be banned everywhere to somewhat mitigate the current brainrot rates.
So true. Same goes for X, insta and Facebook.
I hate tiktok as much as anyone else but this is not the way to do this.
They just banned it using “think of the kids” and without establishing any laws to actually protect the kids. You see how unserious and corrupt this appears? Populist authoritarian drivel like this should not be applauded even if you agree with it.
The government is not wrong tbh. Young people are addicted to social media and scroll endlessly all the time, and I have myself came across, mildly put, disturbing content. I deleted most of my social media and use the bare minimum to only keep up with some remote friends.
I also don’t buy the argument that it’s censoring because it’s just one of many many channels people can freely communicate. TikTok alone does not mean democracy. Also, the same way it can support democracy, so can it be used to demolish it by repeating false claims to make them appear truthful. And if you add AI on top which can generate convincing images and videos of whatever…
Prohibition has never really worked for any addictive thing so far. What makes you think that it will work for social media?
In my opinion, education is the better investment.
Quite a lot of kids and teenagers have the same reaction to taking away their phone, as addicts have when taking away their drugs. I don’t think education can solve problems that are already affecting peoples mental and physical state. Not giving kids TikTok is same as not giving kids to much sugar. In small doses and controlled yes, but nothing you would give them free unlimited access to.
First of all, how is not giving and not giving too much the same?
Kids aren’t stupid, explain why it is bad/dangerous, best before first install of tiktok. And TikTok is not the only place in the web with shorts, hell even twich has them now. You need to educate your kids before letting the ho into WWW alone.
With a good education, you can get your child rejecting too much sugar on their own, btw.
Kids aren’t stupid
Well, they ain’t smart either… Even adults know better but still many end up in situations that are preventable if you have just some small amount of rational thinking. Also… you first need to know it yourself, to be able to educate your kids. Most parents didn’t grow up with TikTok nor do they use it themselves. How to educate your kids about dangers you yourself don’t know or understand?
Kids are like a white paper, experience is what makes a kid “stupid” / “smart” or just to who they are.
But yea, I agree, that many adults have not the education they would need to educate a kid properly. There should in my opinion be support from society (like with government founding) that ensures parents can get educated enough. The society would profit highly from such efforts, I think, as well educated people can look after themself and are less likely generating costs that society (through taxes) has to pay compared to less educated people.
Government can get the similar effect with a ban, without spending a dime. Kids will grow up to be normal people who can actually work, be normal, and pay taxes. Same thing, but cheaper.
Regulation would be way more impactful. If something is illegal anyway, you will still get it, but completely unhinged. I mean setting up a VPN isn’t too hard.
Can’t speak for Albanian internal politics (I will speculate the incumbent administration is almost certainly likely to use to their own benefit), but more countries need to start banning large commercial American and Chinese social networks.
But preferably not 2 months before the election
Depends how you look at it. If enemy states are actively leveraging their social networks to undermine democracy in your country, 2 months before the election may be the perfect time to ban US/Chinese commercial social networks.
In that case you could argue that it is the perfect time, but that is not happening in this case. The current government sees this particular medium as a threat because of the users on it, not because of the owners.
That’s fair.
I was just trying to point that American attitudes (theatrical polemics claiming some sort allegiance to free speech) around social networks are not always applicable or desirable.
In my own country, Ukraine, we banned all Russian social networks and internet services in 2014 after they invaded. This is a reasonable action.
Banning all Russian social networks and internet services in Ukraine seems like a smart decision, definitely. When it comes to TikTok it is less clear to me what a good decision would be, but the fact a foreign and potentially hostile state can influence the people is a serious threat.
Oh no, won’t somebody think of the influencers
