Directives on operation of social media issued

KATHMANDU: Facebook, TikTok and YouTube among other social media platforms and Netflix and Sony among other OTT platforms now have to register in Nepal.  If not, the government can shut down the platforms.

Some big media and party leaders had protested when then Minister for Communications and Information Technology Minister Gokul Baskota had said that a law should be formulated for registering social media platforms in Nepal.

It has become easy for the government to issue Directives on the Operation of Social Networking 2023 after those who had protested the bill to regulate information technology registered by Baskota started saying that the directives should be issued.

The main points of the bill registered by Baskota have been included in the directives.

The government decided to issue the directives after the people from various walks of life started mounting pressure on the government to curb the social media users from publishing the contents that harm the society.

A Cabinet meeting held on Thursday endorsed the Directives on the Operation of Social Networking 2023.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Rekha Sharma said that the Cabinet endorsed the Directives on the Operation of Social Networking 2023 on the proposal of Communications Ministry.

Meanwhile, the platform operators who have not set up their offices in Nepal have been urged to establish contact points in the country within three months of the issuance of the directives.

The government has warned that it will be forced to shut down the platforms if they are not registered within the given time frame.