The future of TikTok is threatened in yet another country. This time, Nepal announced that it will ban the app on the grounds that video sharing is compromising social harmony.
The measure came into force on Monday (13) after announcement by the local government. It was adopted after a cabinet meeting and is immediate.
The country’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma, said TikTok is often used to publish videos that “destabilize family structures and social relationships.”
Actions in other countries
Image: Reproduction
This is not the first time that TikTok has faced something like this. The application has already been banned, partially or completely, in other countries. Most of them cited concerns about local security.
In Nepal alone, more than 1,600 cybercrimes linked to the application were registered in the last four years. The issue has proven to be a problem increasingly addressed by local governments.
As soon as the measure was adopted in Nepal, Purushottam Khanal, the head of the Telecommunications Authority, reported that internet providers were notified to block access to the application.
Repercussion of the case
As expected, the decision had enormous repercussions, including in TikTok. Videos about the ban spread quickly and had a lot of impact.
The opposition to the Nepal government criticized the measure. Deputies said the decision lacks “effectiveness, maturity and responsibility”.
The leader of the Nepali Congress party, Gagan Thapa, went so far as to say that the government’s intention is to “stifle freedom of expression”. It is worth noting that he is part of the governing coalition in the country.
TikTok
TikTok currently has around 1 billion monthly users. The application is managed by the company ByteDance, located in Beijing, in China. It is the sixth largest social platform in the world.
The company rejects criticism, especially those that try to link the application to cyber insecurity and the possible dominance of the Chinese government.
The growing popularity of TikTok among young people, combined with the possibility of a threat to the leadership of giants such as Facebook and Instagram, puts this platform in a prominent position.
At the same time, it arouses the concern of companies that have always commanded the market.
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