Nepal Bans Facebook, X, YouTube, Citing Misinformation and Cybercrime
On Thursday, the K.P. Sharma Oli government banned 26 social media platforms, including Facebook, X, Instagram, and YouTube, due to their failure to register in Nepal by the imposed deadline. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology instructed the Nepal Telecommunication Authority to make the unregistered sites inactive after repeated requests and a final seven-day ultimatum. Critics, such as the Center for Media Research, condemn the ban as detrimental to Nepal’s democratic image, arguing that the government’s stringent oversight conditions likely deterred platform registration. This action follows a Supreme Court ruling mandating platform registration, with the government facing prior criticism for attempts to control online activity and previous bans on platforms like TikTok.
John Q. Hosedrinker