Nepal government bans Chinese app TikTok

KATHMANDU: The Nepal government on Monday announced a ban on the China-owned video sharing app TikTok, citing its negative efforts on social harmony, local media reported.

The country’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma said that the decision to ban TikTok, was made during a recent cabinet meeting, The Kathmandu Post reported.

Sharma, who is also the government spokesperson, however said when the decision will be brought into force is yet to be ascertained.

According to the Kathmandu Post, the government said that although freedom of expression is a basic right, a large section of society has criticised TikTok for encouraging a tendency of hate speech.

In the past four years, 1,647 cases of cybercrime have been reported on the video sharing app, the daily reported.

As per the Nepal daily, the Cyber Bureau of the Nepal Police, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and representatives of TikTok discussed the issue earlier last week and the ban imposition decision is expected to be enforced following the completion of technical preparations.

The latest decision has come within days after the government introduced the ‘Directives on the Operation of Social Networking 2023’. (ANI)

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