TikTok shutdown/ Austrian media: Rama benefited politically from the app ban

Austrian public media network ORF recently published an article about the ban on the TikTok app in Albania.

The article states, among other things, that Prime Minister Edi Rama, who won the May 11 elections, has politically benefited from the ban on TikTok in Albania. 

In the documentary 'Country without TikTok - Albania as a testing laboratory', it is emphasized that the initiator of the closure of TikTok is Rama, who himself has used the application.

The article raises claims that in the best-case scenario this is simply a PR stunt, while in the worst-case scenario, the government of an EU candidate country has gained a powerful tool that no one can take away.  

Full Article:

In March 2025, Albania became the first country in Europe to impose a complete ban on TikTok for twelve months. The reason was a murder in a school a few months earlier. What appears to be a measure for the welfare of children also has disadvantages in terms of democratic politics. Does the Albanian government’s ban on TikTok actually serve to protect young people? Or is it a political tool of power to control the digital public sphere?

The Chinese short-video app TikTok is one of the most popular social networks worldwide. More than 1.6 billion people use it, mostly young people. However, the platform not only hosts dance and cat videos, but also problematic content: bullying, hate speech and religious fanaticism.

Western democracies are hesitant to confront TikTok. In Austria, the app is banned from the work phones of civil servants and ministry employees. The US wants to force Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell its US business.

Focus on Albania

In November 2024, a 14-year-old boy was stabbed to death by a classmate at a school in Tirana. The murder led to a ban on TikTok in Albania, but what exactly happened?

Franziska Tschinderle visited the parents of the murdered boy. His name, Martin Cani, is now known throughout the country. But the incident remains a mystery. Above all, the question of what role social media platforms played in this dispute remains a mystery, since Martin did not even have TikTok. Instead of being online, he preferred to spend his time on the football field.

Edi Rama, the prime minister of Albania and the initiator of the ban, is the kind of politician who would go viral on TikTok. No head of government in the Balkans uses social media as skillfully as the former basketball player and trained artist. This is partly because Rama deviates from the image of a classic statesman.

During the election campaign, he sometimes appears in sweatpants and white sneakers. Rama has his own podcast and goes live on Facebook twice a week to discuss things with his followers. Why would someone like him ban a platform from which he would personally benefit?

Protecting children against censorship

The opposition in Albania believes it knows the answer. They are talking about censorship on the eve of the parliamentary elections to be held in Albania on May 11, 2025.

In March 2025, an Albanian cybersecurity expert named Besmir Semanaj spoke out. He worked for Albania’s largest telecommunications provider for years and now lives in Vienna. In a Facebook post, Semanaj revealed that the government was implementing a procedure called “Deep Packet Inspection” (DPI). This is, in very simple terms, a technical process that can be used to filter data packets.

Authorities in Albania insist that DPI is being used only to block TikTok. But international experts also have legitimate questions. Authoritarian states like Turkey have used DPI for years to censor the internet or block access to the internet during protests.

Politically, Edi Rama seems to be benefiting from the ban. He won the elections on May 11, 2025, with an absolute majority. There has also been no criticism of the controversial ban from the EU, and mass protests have been avoided.

Three scenarios

While the public is no longer concerned about this issue, author Franziska Tschinderle takes stock and dares to look to the future. She has three theories about what this ban could be about. In the best case scenario, it is simply a PR stunt, and the TikTok ban will be history in a few months. In the worst case scenario, the government of an EU candidate country has acquired a powerful tool that no one can take away.