Kathmandu, Nov 7: Social media and video platform TikTok has been officially listed in Nepal. Representatives from TikTok were present to receive a certificate of listing from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology on Tuesday.
Gajendra Kumar Thakur, Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Ministry, informed that TikTok has been listed at the coordination branch of the ministry after submitting the necessary documents. According to him, the decision to list TikTok was made before the Tihar festival.
A representative from TikTok’s South Asia department had come to consult with the Nepal government. TikTok has committed to comply with the four conditions set by the government and has obtained its taxpayer and PAN number.
Assistance in criminal investigations
On Kartik 27, 2080 BS, the government banned TikTok in Nepal due to concerns about ‘disturbing social harmony’. However, the government decided to lift the conditional ban on TikTok on Bhadra 6, 2081 BS. TikTok officially resumed operations on Bhadra 19 after a dialogue with TikTok’s South Asia team.
According to Joint Secretary Thakur, TikTok has agreed to all four conditions set by the government. He said, “TikTok has appointed a point of contact and has committed to assisting in the investigation of cybercrimes that may occur through the platform. TikTok has provided necessary equipment to the Cyber Bureau for this purpose.”
He also said that TikTok has committed to organizing it’s content and involving Nepalese in the process, as the ‘content filtering’ system is based in Singapore.
Thakur said, “If Artificial Intelligence (AI) is unable to filter TikTok’s content in Nepal, TikTok has agreed to remove the content within two days in coordination with the Cyber Bureau.” #nepal #tiktok
