The video-sharing app TikTok has been officially registered in Nepal.
Gajendra Kumar Thakur, joint secretary at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, said that TikTok has been officially registered in Nepal.
“TikTok has been officially registered after it completed the procedure. The registration process was completed before Tihar,” Thakur said.
Thakur said that TikTok was registered according to the Directives for Managing the Use of Social Networks, 2023.
“TikTok had written that it agreed to all the terms and conditions set by us and the provisions in the directives. It has been registered after completing the registration process accordingly," he said.
Although TikTok had sought time until the end of October to submit its document, it provided the document in mid-October. The social network was registered after studying the 200-page document.
Tiktok has said that it will also fulfill the conditions set by the Nepal government, including providing support on materials that help promote Nepal's tourism as well as on digital literacy.
Last year, the Cabinet had passed the directives to ban social networks such as Facebook and TikTtok if they are not listed. According to the directives, social networks are required to be listed within three months of issuing the notice.
But on November 13, 2023, the then government decided to ban ban TikTok in Nepal.
The government’s move was met with protests by parties including Nepali Congress, Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party and other stakeholders.
The current government decided to lift the ban on August 22. TikTok had then sought time to officially register and operate in Nepal.
TikTok’s official registration has paved the way for the government to collect revenue from the social network and also made it easy to regulate, said Thakur.
"If there is objectionable content on TikTok, we can write to TikTok to remove it," he said.
According to Thakur, Tiktok's office in Singapore will look after its operations in Nepal.
