A representative from Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has contacted an employee at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology after the government decided to ban social media platforms that are registered in Nepal.
On Thursday evening, a representative from Meta requested details about the required documents, said Joint Secretary Gajendra Kumar Thakur, the ministry’s spokesperson.
According to Thakur, the individual contacted the secretariat of Minister Prithvi Subba Gurung from Singapore.
"A representative apparently contacted to inquire about the documents needed for registration. We have already sent the details of the required documents via email," Thakur said.
He claimed that the individual is indeed an employee of Meta.
"It has been confirmed that the person is an employee of Meta, as we have had prior communication with them," he said. "However, it cannot be said that Meta has officially contacted us. It can be considered official only after an application is submitted."
Meta owns and operates social media platforms including Facebook, Messenger, Threads, and WhatsApp.
Earlier on Thursday, the government decided to ban social media platforms that have not been registered in Nepal.
The decision was made as social media platforms including Facebook had not contacted the authorities for registration despite repeated requests.
The Supreme Court had issued a writ of mandamus to regulate and register social media platforms, and the Cabinet also decided to ban unregistered social media platforms in Nepal.
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology decided to implement this decision and issued directives to the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) regarding the same.
The NTA has written to all mobile and internet service providers to block 26 social media platforms that have yet to register in Nepal.
