The Constitutional Court informed media organizations on Monday that, at the request of the government, it had decided to postpone until early February the session scheduled for Tuesday, where their lawsuit against the Council of Ministers' decision to suspend the social platform Tik-Tok on the territory of Albania would be examined on its merits.
"The Meeting of Judges of the Constitutional Court on 15.12.2025, after considering the request for the postponement of the public plenary session, submitted by the interested party, the Council of Ministers, has decided to accept the request, as well as to postpone the public plenary session to 05.02.2026" - this court announced.
But the hearing date set by the CC is very close to the deadline set by the government for the one-year suspension of the use of this social platform, making the decision, according to organizations, almost invalid.
"Such a request is completely unprecedented practice on the part of the Council of Ministers. This in itself aims to "trap" the Court in order to bring the official deadline for the reopening of TikTok closer," Isa Myzyraj, president of the Albanian Journalists Association, told BIRN.
Myzyraj calls the CC's decision "strange" and similar to the way the first-instance court operates, where hearings are indefinitely postponed due to the "whims" of the parties.
"The court should have reviewed it with priority because the main claims are precisely that the right to freedom of expression is being violated, but the court is clearly setting a negative example by not only not reviewing it with priority, but also by postponing it because the Council of Ministers 'requests' it," he emphasizes.
Even the plaintiff's lawyer, Franc Terihati, calls the postponement of the hearing of the case so long unprecedented, while according to the law, this court was supposed to rule on the case within 3 months.
"Our lawsuit was filed in March and from the moment the College of Judges decided not to accept the request to suspend the VKM, we have not had any action from the court."
According to him, despite the fact that the Council of Ministers' request for a postponement is legally in order, it seems that there is an attempt by them to drag out the process.
Domestic and international freedom of expression organizations have expressed criticism of the government's decision, seeing it as a precedent for other acts of censorship in a country with an autocratic government.
The government decided on March 6, 2025, to close the platform due to the alleged negative effect on the psycho-emotional health of children. The decision was followed by a request from the Electronic Postal Communications Authority (AKEP) for companies providing internet services in the country to block access to the Tik Tok application in Albania.
TikTok is a social media platform focused on short videos. It was created by the Chinese company ByteDance and allows users to create, edit and share short videos with special effects, music and various filters./Reporter.al
