Rama announces the closure of Tik Tok without explaining how, expert: It violates freedom and the right to information

Prime Minister Edi Rama declared on Saturday that he would “close Tik Tok”, the social network whose widespread use by children has raised many concerns, but which, despite this, no democratic country has taken any action to close. Rama spoke at an event on school safety after his government came under public pressure following the murder of a child at a school in Tirana. He rejected suggestions that his government was responsible for the lack of safety in schools and more broadly in Albania, and last month declared that he would launch a public discussion on the closure of Tik Tok and Snap Chat, two social networks. On Saturday, December 21, Rama declared the consultation closed, announcing the decision.

"We will close TikTok for a year. Keep in mind that we have done all our research in terms of technology and it will take us 6-8 weeks from the beginning of next year and for a year we will close TikTok. TikTok will not exist in the Republic of Albania," he declared.

Education Minister Ogerta Manastirliu was only slightly more specific about how, declaring "the blocking of the TikTok platform, based on a package of instruments being worked on by AKCESK and AKSHI."

The opposition immediately declared its position against it, calling the measure “censorship.” Rama, for his part, did not explain on what legal basis and constitutional criteria such a measure could be taken, nor in which other democratic country in the world he drew inspiration.

"Using the murder of a 14-year-old to solve personal problems with social networks that you cannot control is double murder and a serious act against freedom," declared Ina Zhupa, an opposition MP.

Azmer Dulević, an activist with the Albania Becomes Movement, commented after Rama’s statement that Tik Tok, in his opinion, is the only media outlet that Rama cannot control, while calling Rama’s move pointless because such closures can be easily avoided with VNP, a technological trick used in dictatorial countries where governments block access to the internet on any critical website. “Are you going to close Tik Tok, the only outlet you cannot control until the elections are over?” he commented. “Don’t forget that we also have VNP,” he added.

Rama's plan to shut down Tik Tok may ultimately be unconstitutional and in conflict with a landmark decision by the European Court of Human Rights.

According to Flutura Kusari, a freedom of expression expert at the European Center for Press and Media Freedom, "the complete closure of social media platforms is disproportionate, an extreme measure and difficult to justify."

“The European Court of Human Rights has already ruled in several cases that the complete closure of such platforms constitutes a violation of freedom of expression. If I am an academic researcher, activist or journalist and I only use Tik Tok to disseminate information on topics of public interest, the closure of the platform would constitute a direct violation of my freedom and right to receive and impart information. Therefore, the Albanian government must balance the protection of children and the public with the right to freedom of expression and not find quick fixes that will have negative consequences on the exercise of freedom of expression,” Kusari added.

According to Kusari, the concern is that "closing Tik Tok will create a precedent that could later be used to close Facebook, Instagram or Twitter."

Albania debated extensively four years ago another controversial initiative of Rama’s, the law on online media control, presented by him as an “anti-defamation package”, one of the aspects of which was the threat that a media outlet could be closed if it did not obey an administrative order about which there was a complaint. One of the arguments why these laws were unconstitutional, and in the final instance they could not be approved despite Rama’s many years of insistence, was that on a website there is a variety of information and, although one of this information may be illegal, the rest of the page cannot be blocked.

Turkey is the country that has blocked the social network YouTube in the past and was condemned by a decision of the European Court of Human Rights precisely because some activists complained that they had been denied freedom of expression.

The country with the most extreme move to date in this area is Australia, where a law has banned social media in its entirety, rather than a specific platform, for children under 16, and questions have been raised about how Australia can enforce this law. In no case has Australia blocked any social media for adults./ BIRN