The Government of Nepal has decided to ban all the unregistered Social Media sites in Nepal. Minister of Communications and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung made the decision public on Thursday.
The decision was made public after a meeting attended by Minister Gurung, ministry officials, representatives of the Nepal Telecommunications Authority, telecom operators, and internet service provider companies. In the meeting, Nepal Telecommunications Authority was instructed to disable unregistered social sites.
On August 28, the MoCIT gave an ultimatum of seven days, calling on both domestic and international Social Media platforms that have yet to register, must register oneself with the ministry within the stipulated time frame. It was required by Social Media sites to have an office in Nepal with a contact person in the country who would ensure compliance to local rules under the Directive for regulation of Social Media Use, 2080.
While hearing a contempt of court case, the Supreme Court of Nepal had ordered the government to ensure that no social media platform operates in Nepal without formal registration. In compliance, the Cabinet decided on August 25 to issue the notice.
26 social sites including Facebook, Whatsapp, instagram, x, youtube, viber, botim will be banned. TikTok may run as its officially registered in Nepal in November 2024 after fulfilling regulatory requirements for registration. Earlier Tiktok was banned in August 2024 and telegram was banned in July 2025 due to its alleged use for online fraud and money laundering.
Nepalis exclusively use social media sites like whatsapp, botim, Meta messenger, viber and other calling applications of social media sites to connect with their families who have migrated to foreign countries for work. According to World Bank data of 2024, Nepal’s personal remittances were estimated to be 33.06% of GDP, giving insight into the connectivity of these social sites across borders.