Two Albanian news outlets, Dosja.al and News24, have reported restrictions on their social media accounts following coverage of the ongoing student-led protests, raising concerns about the vulnerability of public-interest journalism to potentially abusive reporting mechanisms and opaque platform moderation.

In a recent report, Dosja.al stated that its TikTok account had been blocked following a wave of mass reports after publishing content about the protests in Albania. The grounds for TikTok’s decision and whether the reports were coordinated have not been independently established.

On October 31, News24 reported that its official Instagram account, with approximately 130,000 followers, had become inaccessible without warning during a period of extensive coverage of student protests and police interventions. On November 2, the outlet confirmed that access had been restored after approximately three days, following cooperation with Meta. News24 expressed suspicions that the disruption was connected to its protest coverage, although the cause remains unverified.

These incidents follow earlier restrictions affecting media, journalists and civic accounts in Albania. In a joint statement issued on 9 September, the SafeJournalists Network and Media Freedom Rapid Response partners warned that platform reporting and automated enforcement mechanisms could be manipulated to restrict public-interest accounts. They highlighted the risk that journalists and civic actors could be penalized by platform systems in response to malicious activity directed against them.

The recurrence of such incidents during periods of intense civic mobilization raises serious concerns about media freedom, access to information and the resilience of digital platforms against manipulation. Even temporary restrictions can disrupt the circulation of independent reporting and documentation of police conduct at moments of heightened public interest. For smaller and independent media, whose audience reach often depends heavily on social media, the consequences can be particularly significant.

Ensuring transparency and accountability in platform moderation is therefore crucial to protecting media freedom and the public’s access to information. TikTok and Meta should provide clear explanations for restrictions affecting news outlets, ensure timely human review and effective appeals, and investigate indications that mass-reporting mechanisms may have been manipulated. The available evidence does not establish a common perpetrator or coordinated operation behind the latest incidents, making independent verification essential.

Protecting journalists’ access to digital platforms is particularly important during protests, when independent reporting and the documentation of actions by public authorities serve an essential public-interest and accountability function.