Nepal will ban Chinese social media platform TikTok. Nepalese officials say the app will have a bad impact on “social harmony” in the country because it receives a lot of hate messages.
TikTok is frequently misused in the Asian country. For example, 1,600 cybercrime incidents were recorded in the past four years, according to local media. According to the government, TikTok encourages the spread of hate messages.
Communications and IT Minister Rekha Sharma did not say on Monday exactly when the ban would come into effect. She added: “If it were technically possible, the ban could come into effect today.”
Politicians from opposition parties and some members of the current coalition criticize the ban and believe it conflicts with freedom of expression. A few days ago, the Nepalese government announced that it would introduce more guidelines to increase control over the country’s social media and its content.
In some other countries, TikTok has already been partially or completely banned, such as India. TikTok has been banned four times in Pakistan. These have been raised repeatedly.
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