Nepal moves to block Facebook, X, YouTube and others

After failing to meet the authorities’ registration requirements, Nepal’s government has announced it will block access to major social media platforms, including Facebook and X.

The government says the move is part of a campaign to combat online hate, rumors, and cybercrime, which the government announced on Thursday.

Companies must register with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology on Wednesday, provide a local contact, grievance handler, and self-regulation official, or face shutdown.

According to ministry spokesman Gajendra Kumar Thakur, “Unregistered social media platforms will be deactivated from today onward,” Thakur told AFP.

We gave them enough time to register and repeatedly requested that they follow our instructions, but they refused, so we had to shut down their operations in Nepal, according to communications and IT minister Prithvi Subba Gurung.

By the deadline of Wednesday, Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube parent Alphabet, X, Reddit, and LinkedIn, was asked to register.

The platforms were still accessible on Thursday, according to AFP reports.

directly violates fundamental rights

The social media platforms that have millions of users in Nepal with accounts for entertainment, news, and business must register and establish a local presence in accordance with a 2023 directive.

Only five people have registered since, including TikTok and Viber, and two are still developing.

The sudden closure, according to Digital Rights Nepal president Bhola Nath Dhungana, demonstrates the government’s “controlling” approach.

Dhungana remarked that “it directly violates the public’s fundamental rights.” Social media regulation is not wrong, but first we need the legal infrastructure to enforce it. A sudden closure like this is “controllable.”

In the past, Nepal had to censor access to well-known online platforms.

The government cited a rise in online fraud and money laundering as reasons for blocking access to the Telegram messaging app in July.

After the South Asia division of the platform agreed to follow Nepali guidelines, Nepal lifted a nine-month ban on TikTok in August of last year.