TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s prime minister said Sunday the ban on TikTok his government announced a day earlier was “not a rushed reaction to a single incident.”
Prime Minister Edi Rama said Saturday the government will shut down TikTok for one year, accusing the popular video service of inciting violence and bullying, especially among children.
Authorities have held 1,300 meetings with teachers and parents since the November stabbing death of a teenager by another teen after a quarrel that started on social media apps. Ninety percent of them approve of the ban on TikTok.
“The ban on TikTok for one year in Albania is not a rushed reaction to a single incident, but a carefully considered decision made in consultation with parent communities in schools across the country,” said Rama.
Following Tirana's decision, TikTok asked for “urgent clarity from the Albanian government” in the case of the stabbed teenager. The company said it had “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.”
“To claim that the killing of the teenage boy has no connection to TikTok because the conflict didn’t originate on the platform demonstrates a failure to grasp both the seriousness of the threat TikTok poses to children and youth today and the rationale behind our decision to take responsibility for addressing this threat,” said Rama.
“Albania may be too small to demand that TikTok protect children and youth from the frightening pitfalls of its algorithm,” he said, blaming TikTok for “the reproduction of the unending hell of the language of hatred, violence, bullying and so on.”
Albanian children comprise the largest group of TikTok users in the country, according to domestic researchers.
Many youngsters in Albania did not approve of the ban.
“We disclose our daily life and entertain ourselves, that is, we exploit it during our free time,” said Samuel Sulmani, an 18-year-old in the town of Rreshen, 75 kilometers (47 miles) north of the capital Tirana, on Sunday. “We do not agree with that because that’s a deprivation for us.”
But Albanian parents have been increasingly concerned following reports of children taking knives and other objects to school to use in quarrels or cases of bullying promoted by stories they see on TikTok.
“Our decision couldn’t be clearer: Either TikTok protects the children of Albania, or Albania will protect its children from TikTok,” said Rama.
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FILE - A view of the TikTok app logo, in Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's beloved former Emperor Akihito marked his 91st birthday on Monday, as he continues to pursue his lifetime research into goby fish, care for his wife and pray for peace.
Akihito, who abdicated in 2019 and handed over the Chrysanthemum throne to his son, Emperor Naruhito, now holds the title of Emperor Emeritus.
Akihito has since receded from official duties and enjoys his time quietly while caring for his 90-year-old wife, former Empress Michiko, who broke her leg bone in October and is still recovering, according to the Imperial Household Agency.
Akihito's daily routine includes reading newspapers in the morning and evening, and watching the news with Michiko over meals, the IHA said.
The former Emperor was to celebrate his birthday on Monday with his relatives and other guests.
This year, Akihito has been particularly concerned about people who were affected by a fatal New Year earthquake and heavy rains in autumn in Japan's northcentral region of Noto, the IHA said.
Akihito continues to actively research the classification of Japanese freshwater goby fish at a palace laboratory and his residence, officials said.
Under Japan’s Constitution, the emperor is a symbol without political power. Wartime militarist governments worshipped the emperor as a living god and fought the war in his name until Akihito's father renounced that status after the country’s 1945 war defeat.
Akihito during his three-decade reign embraced an identity as peacemaker and often made reconciliatory missions and carefully scripted expressions of regret on the war.
Palace officials said Akihito continues to observe a moment of silence on days marking key events of the war, including the end of the Battle of Okinawa, the anniversaries of the U.S. atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the day Japan surrendered.
The former emperor’s daily life is “still deeply connected with his wartime memories,” the palace said. Akihito and Michiko are currently rehearsing passages from a book on the Battle of Okinawa as part of their daily routine, the IHA said.
This handout photo taken on Dec. 11, 2024 by the Imperial Household Agency of Japan and released on Dec. 23, 2024 shows Japan's former emperor Akihito, left, and former empress Michiko as they pose for photos at their residence in Tokyo. Japan's former emperor Akihito turns 91 on Dec. 23. (Imperial Household Agency of Japan via AP)
This photo taken on Dec. 11, 2024 by the Imperial Household Agency of Japan and released on Dec. 23, 2024 shows Japan's former emperor Akihito, left, and former empress Michiko as they pose for photos at their residence in Tokyo. Former Emperor Akihito turns 91 on Dec. 23. (Imperial Household Agency of Japan via AP)
