Nepal government has decided to ban TikTok as announced by the government’s spokesperson and the Minister of Communications and Technology Rekha Sharma.

The decision was reached during today’s cabinet meeting, where it was revealed that the move aims to address social discord caused by the platform.

According to Minister Sharma, the implementation of this decision will occur promptly, but the technical aspects of the suspension may take some time to finalize.

The ‘Directives on the Operation of Social Networking 2023’, passed by the Cabinet on Thursday imposes restrictions on the type of content that should be allowed on social media and requires all social media platforms to register and set up offices in Nepal.

In a comment to Aawaaj News, Santosh Sigdel – Executive Director of Digital Rights Nepal – stated, “Just a few days back, the cabinet passed directives to regulate content on social media. Now, they have decided to ban TikTok. The government should consider that this decision may connote the government’s inability to regulate social media in the first place, which may be why they decided to ban the whole platform.”

He further states, “Social media platforms themselves are not harmful; its impact depends on how people use them. Instead of banning a whole platform, trying to regulate the harmful or misleading content would be a better decision.”