Nepal has banned the use of TikTok in the country, fearing its content was “harmful to social harmony”.
The country has joined neighboring India in suspending use of the video-sharing app, which is operated from China.
Nepal’s Communications Minister Rekha Sharma said: “It disrupts social harmony and disrupts family structures and social relations.”
“The decision to ban was taken today and the relevant authorities are currently addressing the technical issues.”
TikTok has more than a billion monthly users but has faced controversy for alleged data protection breaches and for its potentially harmful impact on young people.
Nepal has followed the example of India, but also other countries, while British Security Minister Tom Tugendhat has not ruled out a complete TikTok ban. Here is a comprehensive overview of all the countries that have banned TikTok.
United Kingdom
TikTok was banned on British government phones on March 16.
Security Minister Tom Tugendhat had told Sky News that he had asked the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) to look into the app. He said it was “absolutely essential” to keep Britain’s “diplomatic processes free and secure”.
TikTok has also been fined £12.7 million by the UK data watchdog for failing to protect children’s privacy. Up to 1.4 million British under-13s were reportedly allowed to use TikTok in 2020.
According to an investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office, the video-sharing website exploited the data of children of this age without parental consent (ICO).
Although TikTok owner ByteDance has done its best to settle lawsuits and address concerns, some countries have decided to ban it in whole or in part.
United States
Montana has become the first US state to ban TikTok from personal devices, a change that will take effect in January.
On February 28, the US government announced that it had ordered all its federal employees to delete TikTok from their government-issued phones to protect confidential data.
More than half of the fifty US states have banned the app on government devices.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson criticized the move, saying: “We firmly oppose these wrong actions. The U.S. government must respect the principles of the market economy and fair competition, stop oppressing businesses, and provide an open, fair, and non-discriminatory environment for foreign businesses in the U.S.”
They added: “How insecure can the world’s biggest superpower like the US be to be so afraid of young people’s favorite app.”
However, nationwide legislation to ban the app from operating in the US was blocked by lawmakers in March, citing concerns about freedom of expression and unequal treatment of social media companies.
Australia
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agreed to ban TikTok after an investigation by the Home Office.
Attorney General Mark Dreyfus said in a statement that the ban would go into effect “as soon as practicable” and that exceptions would only be made where necessary and after taking safety measures.
Lee Hunter, TikTok’s general manager for Australia and New Zealand, claimed the app should not be singled out.
In a statement, Hunter said TikTok should not be treated differently to other social media platforms as “there is no evidence to suggest it is in any way a safety issue for Australians”.
France
France has banned the “recreational” use of TikTok, Twitter, Instagram and other apps on the phones of government workers over concerns about insufficient data security measures.
The ban should take effect immediately, the Ministry of Public Sector Transformation and the Public Prosecution Service wrote on Twitter on March 24.
He added that many of France’s European and international partners have been taking measures for weeks to restrict or ban the downloading, installation and use of Chinese video-sharing app TikTok by their governments.
Mr Guerini said recreational applications do not have sufficient levels of cyber security and data protection to be deployed on government equipment, adding that exemptions could be granted for professional reasons, such as government institutional communications.
Canada
The North American nation also banned the installation of TikTok on government-issued devices.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau explained the reason: “I suspect that now that the government is taking the important step of telling all federal employees that they can no longer use TikTok on their work phones, many Canadians, from business to private individuals, will be thinking about the security of their own phones. data and perhaps make choices,
“I’m always in favor of giving Canadians the information to make the right decisions for them.”
The European Union
The wave of bans within the EU started when the European Commission and EU Council temporarily banned TikTok on employee phones as a cybersecurity measure.
Later, on February 28, the European Parliament announced that it would follow suit.
In addition to downloading the video-sharing app on their work phones, employees are also not allowed to access the platform on their private devices – if their parliamentary email and other network accesses are installed on them.
India
India banned TikTok in June 2020, along with several other Chinese apps. The company believes the app threatens its national security and defense – and that it also encourages pornography.
India was TikTok’s largest international market before the ban, with more than 200 million users.
Taiwan
In 2022, the Taiwanese government banned TikTok from all public sector devices. This followed concerns that the Chinese government was waging “cognitive warfare” against the nation.
Pakistan
Pakistan has banned the video-sharing app several times, with the last ban ending in November 2021.
Afghanistan
In April 2022, a Taliban spokesperson said the government planned to ban the app. This was because of the negative impact it had on the younger generation and its inconsistencies with their Islamic laws.
The app was recently banned, with the Taliban stating that the app’s “filthy content did not comply with Islamic law”, according to The Sun.
Iran
In Iran, TikTok is completely banned because TikTok’s rules and Iranian laws are incompatible.
Nepal
The Asian country confirmed the ban in November 2023, calling TikTok “harmful to social harmony”.
According to local media reports, more than 1,600 TikTok-related cybercrime cases have been registered in Nepal in the past four years.
Nepal Telecom Authority Chairman Purushottam Khanal said internet service providers have been asked to shut down the app.