After India, Nepal bans Chinese app TikTok

The Himalayan country decided to ban the app by stating it is disrupting social structures in the South Asian nation.

“Considering how TikTok is disrupting our social harmony, and the impact it’s having on our family and social structures, the cabinet has decided to ban TikTok for the moment,” Rekha Sharma, Nepal’s minister of communication and information technology, told a press conference on Monday (November 13, 2023) as quoted by CNN.

Defending his government's decision to ban the app, the country's PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal was quoted as saying by CNN: "After a long discussion on how to control the tendency to spread disharmony, disorder, and chaos in the society … a consensus was reached among all political parties, including both the ruling party and the opposition."

The United States and its Five Eyes intelligence alliance partners — Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand —have placed restrictions on the use of the app on devices used by government workers.

In 2020, India blocked TikTok and several other Chinese apps by citing that they 'pose threat to sovereignty and integrity of India'.