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TikTok has already been either partially or completely banned by
other countries, with many citing security concerns.
More than 1,600 TikTok-related cyber crime cases have been
registered over the last four years in Nepal, according to local
media reports.
Nepal's Minister for Communications and Information Technology
Rekha Sharma said the decision to ban TikTok had been made at a
cabinet meeting earlier on Monday.
"Colleagues are working on closing it technically," Sharma told
Reuters.
Nepal Telecom Authority Chair Purushottam Khanal said that
internet service providers have been asked to close the app.
"Some have already closed while others are doing it later
today," Khanal told Reuters.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment on
the matter. It has previously said such bans are "misguided" and
that they are based on "misconceptions".
Opposition leaders in Nepal criticised the move, saying that it
lacked "effectiveness, maturity and responsibility".
"There are many unwanted materials in other social media also.
What must be done is to regulate and not restrict them," Pradeep
Gyawali, former foreign minister and a senior leader of the
Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), said.
Nepal's neighbour India banned TikTok along with dozens of other
apps by Chinese developers in June 2020, saying that they could
compromise national security and integrity.
Another South Asian country, Pakistan, has banned the app at
least four times over what the country's government terms its
"immoral and indecent" content.
(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by
Jason Neely and Alexander Smith)
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