Whereas initially massively beloved worldwide, the social media app TikTok began dealing with elevated scrutiny from a number of nations. This got here to a head when international locations like India formally banned the app together with a number of Chinese language counterparts again in 2020. Nevertheless, the injury hasn’t stopped, as it’s now confirmed that Nepal has banned TikTok for causes we are going to focus on under.
On November thirteenth, Nepal formally determined to ban TikTok in a cupboard assembly held with a number of authorities executives. Initially reported by the NYT, the information comes out of a report that mentions TikTok is affecting “social concord” with its refusal to curb hateful content material. That is related to a current rule the nation launched that requires social media firms to open a liaison workplace in Nepal.
Nepal’s Minister for Communications & Data Expertise, Rekha Sharma, spoke to varied media fraternities in regards to the state of affairs. Talking to BBC Nepali, Sharma mentioned that “the platform unfold malicious content material.”
In keeping with native media experiences, there have been 1600+ TikTok-related cybercrime circumstances registered within the nation. The minister mentioned, “The ban would come into impact instantly, and telecom authorities have been directed to implement the choice.” The Telecom Authority Chief of Nepal, Purushottam Khanal, confirmed to Reuters that “Some have already closed whereas others are doing it later immediately“.
TikTok’s earlier response to the banning state of affairs (which has been a development all over the world) was that these bans are “misguided” and based mostly on “misconceptions”. Furthermore, a senior chief from the Nepali Congress often called Gagan Thapa has criticized the federal government’s determination. He acknowledged that that is an try and curb the liberty of speech.
Regardless of this, the scrutiny on TikTok appears to by no means finish. The app is banned in a number of locations – Belgium, Canada, Taiwan, and sure states of the US have utterly banned the utilization of the China-based social media app on authorities units. Pakistan has banned TikTok a number of instances, solely unbanning it after receiving assurance that it could management the quantity of ‘immoral/indecent content material’ on the platform.
It doesn’t matter what, it’s nonetheless the unique platform that popularized short-form video content material. In reality, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts are each recognized to have come out later. These newer platforms basically capitalized on the rising recognition of TikTok-style brief video content material.
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