The government has decided to lift the ban imposed on TikTok, a popular social networking site, under certain conditions.
A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday took a decision to this effect, Minister for Communications and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung told the state-owned news agency RSS.
According to sources at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Ferdous Mottakin , head of TikTok South Asia, who oversees TikTok's public policy and government relations , had recently emailed the government requesting the ban be lifted. He had also expressed commitment to comply with the conditions set by the government.
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology had prepared a proposal to lift the ban on TikTok following the directive of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
The proposal has a provision to treat all the social networking sites on equal footings and to draft the required laws to regulate them.
The previous government, led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, imposed a ban on TikTok on November 13, 2023 arguing that the app disturbed social harmony.
Fourteen separate petitions were filed in the Supreme Court challenging the government's decision, arguing that it infringed on freedom of expression. The court has scheduled a hearing for September 26. The Asia Internet Coalition (AIC), a representative organization of major social media companies like Google, Apple, Meta, Amazon, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Rakuten, and Spotify, sent a letter criticizing the ban, stating that the Nepal government's actions were against international practices.
