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2026-09-19 08:08:00 / POLITIKË ALFA PRESS

The European Commission has launched an investigation into the Meta company, following the massive suspension of social media accounts that published material about anti-government protests in Albania.

The news was announced by the American magazine WIRED , which reports that more than 30 MEPs have asked the European Commission to verify whether Meta's actions are in compliance with the European Digital Services Act (DSA).

MEP Alexandra Geese has described the suspensions as an act akin to censorship.

"What happened in Albania is tantamount to censorship," declared Geese, one of the signatories of the letter to the European Commission.

She also criticized Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg,'s approach to freedom of expression.

"Mark Zuckerberg's concept of 'free speech' seems to only include opinions that align with the Trump administration's political agenda. That's exactly why we have European rules," she said.

Hundreds of accounts affected
The suspensions are related to accounts that reported or documented the “Flamingo Revolution” protests in Tirana. The protests began after opposition to the development of a luxury resort linked to Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.

Protesters are demanding the amendment of the law that allows construction in protected areas, as well as the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama.

According to the nonprofit organization Repro Uncensored, which is investigating the suspensions, about 100 cases related to the protests have been verified. The organization estimates that the actual number of affected accounts could be in the hundreds.

"We continue to receive additional reports and, based on the volume and patterns we are seeing, we estimate that the real number could be in the hundreds ," the organization's founder, Martha Dimitratou, told WIRED.

In at least 70 cases, Repro Uncensored has confirmed the deletion of protest-related posts and videos, the restriction of accounts, and the loss of some collaboration features.

According to the organization, in many cases, copyright infringement complaints were made multiple times against the same account, often five to ten complaints within a short period of time. The accounts were then faced with escalating measures, up to and including complete deactivation.

The Case of Arjan Koç
One of the documented cases is that of Arjan Koç, a British-Albanian citizen who had been publishing footage of the protests on Instagram since June.

On August 20, Koçi began receiving a large number of emails from Meta, claiming that he had used someone else's material.

" Someone claimed I had taken their work and published it as my own. But it was my video, my voice, and my photography," he told WIRED.

The drone footage filmed by him showed the scale of the protests in Tirana and had received millions of views on various platforms.

Koçi said at least 20 other accounts were closed at the same time. Five of the complaints about his content, he said, came from the same source and email address.

When he contacted the person who had made the complaints, Koçi claims that he told him that he had been paid $1,800 to report the accounts and that he would withdraw the complaints if he was paid.

The person allegedly also suggested that he deactivate the account for a week in order to keep it safe.

WIRED was unable to get a response from the person accused of these actions.

Meta admits mistake
A Meta spokesperson told WIRED that the accounts were removed in error and that they had been restored.

" We apologize for the inconvenience caused. We have an appeals process for people who believe we made a mistake and may reinstate content if we determine it does not violate our policies ," the company said.

Meta did not comment on the investigation into possible coordinated activity.

Freedom House expert Kian Vesteinsson said that the massive use of copyright complaints could become a way to abuse platforms' reporting systems.

According to him, this tactic has also been used in conflicts and in cases where the aim is to silence people who criticize governments.

Rama denies involvement.
Some protesters have accused the Albanian government of being behind the attacks on social media accounts.

Prime Minister Edi Rama has denied these accusations.

"We have absolutely no connection to any social media account that has been deactivated or restricted and we do not possess the technical capacity to carry out such an operation. Shame on this whole bunch of losers who spread such nonsense," Rama wrote on the X platform.

The prime minister's office did not respond to WIRED's request for comment.

Meanwhile, even though Koç's account has been restored, he says he believes he is still facing a "shadow ban," an invisible restriction on the reach of his content.

EU Commissioner Thomas Regnier confirmed that the European Commission is now investigating Meta over concerns related to the restriction of political voices on social media.

He said the new allegations were "not a surprise at all" and stressed that the European Digital Services Act gives users the opportunity to challenge unjustified content moderation decisions.

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