Nepal has banned social media app TikTok, claiming it is “detrimental to social harmony”.
The announcement was made after the decision was ratified by the country’s cabinet. Foreign minister Narayan Prakash Saud said the app would be banned immediately.
Saud said: “The government has decided to ban TikTok as it was necessary to regulate the use of the social media platform that was disrupting social harmony, goodwill and flow of indecent materials.”
Nepal’s decision to ban the app comes just days after it brought in a new rule mandating social media firms to set up liaison offices in the country to make them more “accountable”. While it has around a billion monthly users, TikTok has already been banned by several countries, including India.
It is unclear what triggered the TikTok ban in Nepal. It is not the first time however Nepal has banned websites in the country, having barred pornography in 2018.
Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma told the BBC the platform spread “malicious content”. Gagan Thapa, a senior leader of Nepali Congress, disagreed with the ban.
He said it was an attempt to curb free speech in the nation.
ExpressOnline has approached TikTok for a comment.
