KATHMANDU: The Government of Nepal has announced plans to block access to major global social media platforms, including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, Reddit, and LinkedIn, after the companies failed to comply with newly introduced registration requirements.
According to officials, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology had issued a directive requiring all international social media platforms to register locally, appoint a contact person in Nepal, designate a grievance handler, and implement self-regulation mechanisms. The deadline for compliance was Wednesday.
“Unregistered social media platforms will be deactivated today onwards,” ministry spokesperson Gajendra Kumar Thakur told AFP.
Communications and Information Technology Minister Prithvi Subba Gurung defended the move, stating, “We gave them enough time to register and repeatedly requested them to comply with our request, but they ignored this, and we had to shut their operations in Nepal.”
The government has said the measure is intended to curb cybercrime, the spread of misinformation, and online hate speech.
Despite the announcement, AFP reported that access to the platforms remained uninterrupted on Thursday.
Tech companies, including Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp), Alphabet (owner of YouTube), and others had not issued public responses at the time of publication.
Directly Hits Fundamental Rights:
The online restrictions follow a 2023 directive requiring social media platforms – which have millions of users in Nepal with accounts for entertainment, news and business – to register and establish a local presence.
Only five, including TikTok and Viber, have since formally registered, while two others are in the process.
Bhola Nath Dhungana, president of Digital Rights Nepal, said that the sudden closure shows the “controlling” approach of the government.
“This directly hits the fundamental rights of the public,” Dhungana said. “It is not wrong to regulate social media, but we first need to have the legal infrastructure to enforce it. A sudden closure like this is controlling.”
Nepal has restricted access to popular online platforms in the past.
Access was blocked to the Telegram messaging app in July, with the government citing a rise in online fraud and money laundering.
In August last year, Nepal lifted a nine-month ban on TikTok after the platform’s South Asia division agreed to comply with Nepali regulations.
Governments worldwide, including the United States, European Union, Brazil and Australia, are also tightening oversight of social media and big tech, citing concerns over misinformation, data privacy, online harm and national security. India has mandated local compliance officers and takedown mechanisms, while China maintains strict censorship and licensing controls.
