Nepal blocks Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X Over Rule Breach, amid control concerns

Nepal has ordered Internet service providers to prevent access to major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X, after companies failed to comply with local registration rules – attract criticism from media rights groups and increase concerns about censorship and expression chat.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology at Nepal directed the Communications Authority in Nepal to direct Internet service providers to restrict access to 26 social media platforms completely. The move followed a meeting of the Ministry’s officials earlier in the day.

Nepal has Internet penetration rate is more than 90 %According to data from the Communications Authority in Nepal. Among the country’s social media users, 87 % Facebook uses, followed by 6 % on X and 5 % on YouTube, The latest numbers From the STATCOONTER web analysis company suggested.

Discord, Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WeChat, Reddit, Snapchat, YouTube and X. The decision follows on August 25, which gave foreign social media companies only seven days to record their operations in Nepal and appoint a local communication person.

Media calling groups and civil society organizations criticized this step. The decision is to “seriously obstructing journalists’ work and reaching news and information”, ” He said The Committee for the Protection of Journalists, which is a New York -based profit organization. The Nepalese Journalists Union also condemned this measure, saying that it “undermines the freedom of the press and the right of citizens to information.”

Thursday’s decision comes weeks after the support of the Nepal Supreme Court to the local registration requirements for the government last month, to rule It was aimed at curbing wrong information. However, the court did not explicitly order the government to ban the platforms that failed to register, and instead directing officials to “make appropriate legal arrangements immediately, within the framework of the law.”

It is worth noting that Tiktok and Russia Viber are among the social media applications that are not affected by the latest arrangement; The government said that these platforms had already followed the rules and recorded themselves in the country.

“It is extremely disturbing that Nepal chose to prevent access to social media and entire social services just because it was not registered with the government,” said Raman Jet Singhima, the director of Asia Pacific Policies in the field of cybersecurity at Access Now. And compared the approach to the “oversight engineering that was seen in the great protection wall model in the Republic of China from digital tyranny – a road completely unlike Nepal’s aspirations and constitutional guarantees.”

The Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Prithvi Supba Gurong, told reporters that the government has given large platforms to register in Nepal and submitted repeated requests, including the definition, but they did not comply.

Meta, as well as Google and Snap, did not respond immediately for suspension requests.

Access to platforms will be restored once registration in the country, according to General notification (PDF) issued by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology.

Cheima argued that “Nepal must publish all the orders of the ban, restore access, and to turn into a legislative process that narrows the mysterious and constructive prohibitions in legal procedures, transparency and calm consultation.”

He added that without a clear appeal or independent supervision, the guidance gives the government “comprehensive powers to suspend services, remove requests, and decline the local” grievance “and” self -organization “within companies.

“This calls for a ban and pressure on companies to download legal content,” continued.

Earlier this year, the Nepal government I faced a violent reaction During the proposed social media bill, it is still awaiting approval. The legislation includes sentences for imprisonment and fines for jobs “that are against national sovereignty or benefit.” The International Federation of Journalists said that the proposal “threatens to undermine freedom of the press and digital expression.”

In response to the early criticism of the proposed legislation, Minister Gurong said that the government “has no intention to reduce freedom of expression.”

However, the draft law also allows the government to request social media platforms to remove jobs, with no compliance that is likely to lead to fines.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology in Nepal has not responded to a request for a comment on the prohibition decision.