Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said Saturday the government would shut down social network TikTok for at least a year from 2025.

“We are going to chase this thug out of our neighbourhood for one year”, Rama told a meeting with Albanian teachers, parents and psychologists in Tirana. The government would launch programmes to “serve the education of students and help parents follow their children’s journey”, he added.

The blocking of the controversial social network comes less than a month after a 14-year-old student was killed and another injured in a fight near a school in Tirana. The fight had developed from an online confrontation on social media.

The killing sparked a debate in the country among parents, psychologists and educational institutions about the impact of social networks on young people. “In China, TikTok promotes how students can take courses, how to protect nature, how to keep traditions,” said Rama. “But on the TikTok outside China we see only scum and mud. Why do we need this?”

Several countries have begun debating measures against TikTok, part of a wider debate on the influence of social media on vulnerable groups, such as children and adolescents. “The problem is not the children but our entire society,” Rama argued.