Nepal Akan Larang TikTok Karena Perturbation Terhadap Keharmonis Sosial

TikTok began to be banned in Nepal (photo: dock.pexels)

JAKARTA - Nepal announced on Monday, November 3 that it would ban TikTok from China, arguing that the "misuse" of the popular video app interfered with social harmony and kindness, as well as growing demands to control it.

TikTok has been partially or completely banned by other countries, with many saying it was due to security concerns.

More than 1,600 TikTok-related cybercrime cases have been registered in Nepal's last four years, according to local media reports.

Nepal's Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma, said the decision to ban TikTok had been taken at a cabinet meeting on Monday.

"Friends are working to close it technically," Sharma was quoted as saying by VOI from Reuters.

Purushottam Khanal, Chairman of Nepal's Telecommunications Authority, said internet service providers had been asked to close the application.

"Some have closed while others did it today," Khanal said.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter. Previously, they stated that such a ban was "misleading" and was based on "misleading understanding".

Opposition leaders in Nepal criticized this move, saying it was less "effective, mature, and responsible".

"There is a lot of unwanted material on other social media as well. What must be done is to regulate and not limit them," said Pradeep Gyawali, former foreign minister and senior leader of the Nepalese Communist Party (Marxis-United Skinists).

Nepal's neighbor India banned TikTok along with dozens of other applications developed by Chinese developers in June 2020, arguing that it could jeopardize national security and integrity.

Another South Asian country, Pakistan, has banned the app at least four times because its government considers its content "amoral and indecent.