Nepal lifts ban on TikTok

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AFP) — Nepal on Thursday lifted its ban on TikTok nine months after suspending the popular video-sharing platform for disturbing “social harmony,” the communications minister said.

TikTok, which has around one billion monthly users, has faced restrictions in many countries for allegedly breaking data rules and for its potentially harmful impact on youth.

“A decision to remove the ban on TikTok has been made,” Minister for Communications and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

The decision comes over a week after TikTok’s South Asia division contacted the minister saying that it would follow Nepal’s regulations, and requesting that the ban be lifted, according to ministry spokesperson Gajendra Kumar Thakur.

Nepal had suspended TikTok in November last year, days after introducing a directive requiring social media platforms operating in the country to set up offices.

It also followed an anti-government demonstration, whose leader was popular on TikTok.

The ban was condemned not just by free speech advocates but by the owners of popular accounts whose lives were transformed by the platform, which had about 2.2 million users in the country.