NEW DELHI, Sept 4: The K.P. Sharma Oli government on Thursday decided to ban as many as 26 social media platforms, including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube, citing their failure to meet the deadline to comply with registration requirements in Nepal.
Issuing a public notice, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said it “has ordered the Nepal Telecommunication Authority to make inactive all non-registered social media sites until they are registered.” After repeated requests, the government again, on August 28, set a seven-day deadline for social media platforms to register in Nepal. That deadline expired on Wednesday night.
On Wednesday afternoon, Gajendra Thakur, spokesperson for the Ministry, said the government was hopeful social media companies would approach them before midnight. If they didn’t, he said, the government would act accordingly. As none approached, a meeting at the Ministry on Thursday then made the decision to enforce the ban.
Free speech advocates have objected to the move, saying it was less about regulation and more about silencing dissenting voices. They believe the government’s registration conditions, which include stringent oversight and control measures, may have been deemed unrealistic and intrusive by many social media companies, likely prompting their refusal to register.
Ujjwal Acharya, director of the Center for Media Research, called the decision misguided, saying the ban comes at the expense of Nepal’s democratic image. “The government has taken the decision without evaluating how this will impact common citizens,” he said. “This decision is going to harm Nepal’s democratic reputation for a long time and will create a lasting negative perception globally.”
The government has based its decision to ban the sites on a recent Supreme Court ruling and its own Directives Relating to the Regulation for Usage of Social Media. Two weeks ago, Nepal’s top court said online and social media platforms — domestic or foreign — must be mandatorily registered with a competent authority.
But Mr Acharya argues that the reason platforms have not complied was because of the government’s unrealistic conditions. According to him, the oversight and control measures proposed by the Nepal government are simply too intrusive.
This isn’t the first time Nepal has banned a social media platform. In November 2023, the then Pushpa Kamal Dahal government blocked TikTok, prompting widespread criticism. The ban was later lifted in August 2024 after TikTok agreed to register in Nepal. Since coming to power around 14 months ago, the Oli government has faced criticism for being increasingly vindictive towards online critics.
Earlier this year, its move to enact a new law to regulate social media also met fierce opposition. Experts warned that, under the guise of regulation, the government was attempting to control virtually all online activity. In the latest case, the government had called on platforms to register four times previously, each with similar deadlines. However, those earlier requests were issued only by the Ministry. This time, the directive to register came from a Cabinet decision.
As soon as the ban was announced, social media users criticised it as injudicious, unwise, and a case of the government shooting itself in the foot, with many posting what they said might be their last messages as they anticipated the platforms could go dark at any moment. Mr Acharya said the government, in trying to silence dissent, has miscalculated.
“Social media today is not just a space to express political or social opinions; very few people use it only for that,” he said. “For the vast majority, it’s a vital part of daily life and business — an easy, affordable, and effective communication tool. The ban is simply wrong.”
(Manas Dasgupta)