Nepal’s government has banned the popular social media app TikTok, saying it was disrupting “social harmony”.
More than 1,600 TikTok-related cyber crime cases have been registered over the last four years in Nepal, according to local media reports.
The South Asian country’s foreign minister Narayan Prakash Saud said the Chinese-owned video app would be banned immediately following a cabinet meeting on Monday.
He said: “The government has decided to ban TikTok as it was necessary to regulate the use of the social media platform that was disrupting social harmony, goodwill and flow of indecent materials.”
He added that to make social media platforms accountable the government has asked companies to register and open a liaison office in Nepal, pay taxes and abide by the country’s laws and regulations.
It was unclear what triggered the ban or if TikTok had refused to comply with Nepal’s requests.
TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, has faced scrutiny in several countries over concerns Beijing could use the app to harvest user data or advance its interests.
TikTok has previously said such bans are “misguided” and based on “misconceptions”.
