The study called “Regulation of the Social Media Platforms and Online Media in the Western Balkans”, brought to attention the need that country has in improving several aspects regarding social media platforms but the online media in general as well.

Not longer than July 4, Albanian Parliament in the last plenary session of the 2021-2024 season voted, without the participation of the opposition parties, a national strategy that claims to combat the disinformation online. The national strategy was prepared by the Anti-Disinformation Commission, which was also boycotted by the opposition.

Media freedom organizations opposed this initiative expressing doubts over governmental attempts to “regulate” online media.

However, this is not an isolated attempt by the government to interfere with online media or social media platforms.

On March 2025, Albania government decided to ban Tik Tok for a 12 months, after Prime Minister Edi Rama first proposed a ban in December, a month after the fatal stabbing of a 14-year-old following a series of arguments on social media.

The decision was also opposed and criticized by the local media organizations as an “arbitrary” decision that expressed governmental control over social media, and took the case to the Constitutional Court.

Some of the study findings that were presented in Tirana, highlighted precisely the need that Albania has to improve and further align with the EU’s Digital Services Act.

Armela Krasniqi, head of Audiovisual Media Authority (AMA) in Albania, said during the presentation that the institution that she leads has started working on aligning with the EU’s Digital Services Act.

 

“We have started working at the end of last year with the adoption of a regulation on video-sharing platforms or on the specific requirements that video-sharing platform providers must meet in order to create transparent, effective and user-friendly services”, Krasniqi said.

“This regulation specifically addresses the legal regulation of video-sharing platforms and aims to regulate the general conditions for the provision of audiovisual content on these platforms. It does not affect the supporting services of audiovisual platforms”, she added.

However despite this, during the presentation of the Albania Annex of the report by national researcher Ilda Londo from the Albanian Media Institute, several challenges and specifics of the Albania digital environment were highlighted.

Firstly, Albania doesn’t have a law specifically about the online media.

There have been attempts by the civil society organizations about self-regulation where in 2020 the Alliance for Ethical Media was established which is an organization for journalists that aims to develop ethical, professional and independent media.

“The impact of the self-regulation is still small”, it was noted.

An overview of Albania online media was presented by Koloreto Cukali, Chairman of the Albanian Media Council (AMC), where 147 online media were mapped.

A difference between media NGOs and TV and online media was revealed, where the transparency regarding the leadership of online media NGOs was 100% compared with other media.

“Regarding NGO media leadership, there is a 100% transparency across all contact metrics, but TV and online show mixed transparency patterns”, it was noted.

Three strong recommendations, among others, were noted during the presentation of the risk assessment on regulating digital platforms and media in the digital environment in Albania: Albania should ensure harmonization of EU digital acquis, and compliance with international standards (through adequate transposition and enforcement capacities), It should guarantee independent oversight with a “hands-off” government approach (AI, privacy, disinformation, digital electoral campaigns, competition, and media and digital platform regulation) and “Decentralize” digital policy, through inclusive multi-stakeholder engagement.

 

Fjori Sinoruka, journalist