In this briefing call, we looked at the recent social media ban in Nepal and the broader context surrounding it.
The Nepali government’s ban on 26 social media platforms on September 4, 2024, came after many major platforms failed to register with the government under a new directive. This action sparked protests by the country’s youth against corruption and the social media ban. The demonstrations turned violent, resulting in 72 casualties and dozens of injuries.
In the aftermath, the ban was revoked, and Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli resigned. However, the initial ban came against the backdrop of a more permanent change to the country’s digital ecosystem, the Social Media Bill (Nepal) tabled in the Nepali Parliament earlier this year.
The legislation compels social media platforms to obtain and renew a government licence to operate within the country. It also mandates user identity verification, requiring companies to authenticate every user’s real identity.
The IT Department was empowered to issue directives ordering content removal for vague reasons such as violating “social disharmony” or “sovereignty,” effectively enabling censorship. Additionally, companies must establish local representatives, set up a complaint mechanism, and ensure that no illegal content is hosted on their platforms, or face penalties and bans. In doing so, the bill effectively removes safe harbour protections.
What We Discussed
In this briefing, we discussed:
Advertisements
- The background of the recent social media ban in Nepal, the platforms banned, and why.
- The aftermath of the ban, the anti-corruption protest, and social media trends that led to the protest.
- The provisions of Nepal’s Social Media Bill, including mandatory licensing, user identity verification, and censorship of posts.
- The obligations of social media platforms under the bill, including KYC of users, developing technology to prevent illegal content, pre-censorship, and more.
- The provisions penalising user behaviour, and the impact of the bill on free speech and access to information in the country.
You can watch the video here:
Also check out the presentation for this call, which includes the complete reading list of MediaNama articles on this:
Support our journalism:
For You
Source link
Disclaimer
We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards in all of our reporting and coverage. We blogs.grocliq.com want to be transparent with our readers about any potential conflicts of interest that may arise in our work. It’s possible that some of the investors we feature may have connections to other businesses, including competitors or companies we write about. However, we want to assure our readers that this will not have any impact on the integrity or impartiality of our reporting. We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work. Thank you for your trust and support.
Website Upgradation is going on for any glitch kindly connect at [email protected]
