The possibility of closing the Tiktok social network was discussed on Wednesday in the Security and Defense Affairs Committee.

This discussion was held with the head of the Agency for Information and Privacy, Krenare Sogojeva-Dërmaku.

MPs, from the position and the opposition, have mentioned the dangers that are coming from this platform.

LVV deputy, Dimal Basha, asked about the possibilities, as he said, to “tighten the work of Tiktok”.

“What are our options to tighten this work of TikTok, as you know it has been a tremendous concern. There are different European countries when the identity card of the person in question is required to open the account. This avoids the possibility of opening the accounts of minor children, I’m talking under the age of 16… There is also a request to close me, but maybe I can explain if these social networks do not respect the rules of the country, what is the possibility to close me completely? “, he asked.

The deputy of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Hisen Berisha, said that this platform is “out of control”.

“Many applications, many networks have been made now. Tik-Toku is one of the networks that seems to be out of control and is the most harmful. If the US feels threatened by Tik-Toku, then of course little Kosovo will be. We should think here about reducing it or stopping it. We have to think as a state in this way”, he said.

However, Commissioner Sogojeva said that closing this social platform is not the responsibility of the Information and Privacy Agency, but of the government.

But she emphasized that they have reached a bilateral relationship with Tik-Tok, where privacy policies have been increased.

She added that the problem continues to be the lack of the official domain of Kosovo on these platforms.

“As for Tik-Tok, we have established bilateral relations with them. We have increased the age, privacy policies. Keep in mind that in the issues of social platforms in Kosovo, the basic problem is the lack of a Kosovo domain, an official domain. We have many users who operate in Kosovo but also operate abroad in other countries… Whether we speak as a state to ban or not to ban, this is not within the competences of the Agency, but the state must decide”, she said.

In this meeting, the Security and Defense Affairs Committee approved the performance plan of the Information and Privacy Agency for 2025.

The commissioner, Krenare Sogojeva-Dermaku, told the deputies that the priority of the agency is the protection of personal data.

According to her, such a thing will be achieved through the increase of inspections and capacity building.

“The first objective is the advancement of mechanisms for the protection of personal data through inspections and capacity building through the expertise of the agency. This objective envisages increasing the number of inspections, completing the legal framework for the protection of personal data for law enforcement institutions”, he said.

In this meeting, PDK MP Hisen Berisha also mentioned the case of President Osmani when he had an operation in Turkey, which according to him, did not authorize anyone to be in the office of the president, as defined by the law.

The opposition MP said that after presenting this violation, he was asked by the Agency to submit a report on such a claim.

This also caused dissatisfaction among the other members of the commission, who said that MP Berisha is speaking outside the set agenda.

“[President Osmani] She did not do it, she did not authorize anyone that you have been [in office] for so many minutes. President Biden entered the operation for 15 minutes, authorized the vice president for two days. When this became public, someone from these agencies called me and said can you bring the report from the hospital in Turkey, I said I can’t. Then he told me that we are doing fake news, and you told him to do it, but this was true”, he said./KosovaPress