The Democratic Party has accused Prime Minister Edi Rama, claiming that state institutions are being used to monitor and control citizens’ activity on social media during a period marked by tensions from the recent protests.
In remarks to the media, DP leader Sali Berisha described the move as a blow to freedom of expression and announced that the opposition will seek the creation of a parliamentary inquiry committee.
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According to Berisha, the government has ordered the State Police and intelligence services to track the digital activity of protesters and citizens, not only over comments against the government, but also over negative reviews of businesses that he sees as linked to those in power.
Statement by the Chairman of the Democratic Party of Albania, Sali Berisha
Shaken by the wave of youth and civic protest, condemned at home and abroad, Edi Rama recently ordered his narco-police and the intelligence service to monitor the digital activity and social media of the protesters, in fact of all citizens.
This time, according to Berisha, the target of surveillance is not only attacks against Edi Rama himself, about which he says Rama swore in primitive revenge that “those who come after me will have me behind them,” but also negative impressions and comments about businesses close to the government.
The Democratic Party considers every citizen’s right to express their assessment of any private or public service they receive to be unlimited, and therefore there can be no obstacle for the customer who has received the service.
Likewise, according to the DP, every citizen has the right to freely express their thoughts and opinions on social media on any topic and about anyone.
On the other hand, the Democratic Party stresses that it never accepts false comments from fake accounts about services that were never used, as these aim to damage fair competition. However, it expresses serious suspicions that these fabricated negative impressions were organized by the government’s patronage operatives in service of its dark repressive and censorial aims.
The fact that this issue has emerged precisely at the height of the youth and civic protest, the statement says, clearly shows that:
This campaign, presented as a fight against fake negative reviews, has been organized by narco-institutions and patronage operatives with the aim of targeting the protest’s exponents and participants;
In the name of identifying the authors of these negative impressions, a pretext is being sought to impose full, digital and mass surveillance over citizens’ online activity;
Edi Rama’s main goal is to control citizens’ comments against him and against his government;
Through digital policing, the ground is being prepared so that, as with TikTok and following the example of the Ayatollahs, thousands of accounts — and, if possible, even social media platforms as a whole — can be blocked.
For these reasons, the Democratic Party condemns in the strongest terms, as a grave attack on free speech, thought and expression, Edi Rama’s decision to control and police citizens’ social media networks, as well as their posts and comments on these networks.
The Democratic Party will seek the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry committee into this anti-constitutional activity by the narco-institutions of Edi Rama’s regime.
