Months after TikTok ban, Nepalese ght in court while nding ways around it
The hugely popular video-sharing platform, which has faced restrictions in several countries for allegedly breaking data rules, was banned in Nepal in November last year; some have skirted the ban entirely via virtual private networks, while others have m
hen Nepal suddenly announced a ban on TikTok in November last year, lawyer Sunil Rajan Singh was determined to ght what he said was a government eort to hide its wrongdoings.
The hugely popular video-sharing platform has faced restrictions in several countries for allegedly breaking data rules and for its supposed harmful impact on youth.
Last week the United States became the latest nation poised to ban the app outright, unless Chinese parent company ByteDance agrees to divest it.
Eorts to restrict access to TikTok have prompted vocal opposition wherever they have been attempted but especially so in Nepal, where the platform had been used to mobilise antigovernment demonstrations.
Some Nepalese have skirted the ban entirely by accessing TikTok via virtual private networks (VPNs), which use a remote connection that obscures their location. Others like Mr. Singh are determined to ght.
“The government’s move is against freedom of speech and expression
Wguaranteed by Nepal’s constitution,” said the attorney, who is leading a legal challenge to the ban in the Himalayan republic’s top court.
‘Not helpful for govt.’
“On TikTok the public would learn about corruption, nancial embezzlement and other immoral activities of leaders,” he said. “That was not helpful for the government.”
Nepal’s Communications Minister justied the ban by accusing the platform of spreading content that damaged the country’s “social harmony”.
The announcement came days before a huge rally called by a prominent businessman who was using TikTok to organise a campaign demanding the reinstatement of Nepal’s monarchy.
The case before the Supreme Court is due to be heard next week with a decision expected later this year.
TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms on the planet with more than one billion users.
Its explosive growth has given its content creators and inuencers an immense audience, and its editing features and AI-powered algorithm have proved particularly attractive. But the platform has also been blamed for spreading disinformation, and ByteDance’s alleged ties to the Chinese government have prompted alarm in foreign capitals.
Multiple countries have sought to tighten controls on TikTok, and it was banned about four years ago in neighbouring India.
AFP, along with more than a dozen fact-checking organisations, is paid by TikTok to verify videos that potentially contain false information.
Nepal’s ban was condemned not just by free speech advocates like Mr. Singh but the owners of popular accounts whose lives were transformed by the platform, which had about 2.2 million users in the country.
‘Giving hope’
Sangmo Bomjan, 28, was running a lucrative business reselling children’s clothes on the platform that began when the COVID-19 pandemic put her husband out of work, saving her household from nancial ruin.
“We were worried, but TikTok gave us hope,” she said.
Orders kept the couple busy packing clothes even at night to deliver across the country, and they were able to earn more than $2,000 every month.
After the ban, Ms. Bomjan used a VPN to keep posting videos to her account, circumventing the block on TikTok imposed by local Internet service providers.
But her orders have shrunk to less than half of what they were before the ban and her videos get a fraction of their earlier viewers.
“They do not reach my customers in remote areas. They don’t know how to use VPNs,” she said.
The collapse in her earnings prompted her husband to migrate to South Korea, sending back money to support Ms. Bomjan and their two children.
Industry workers said last year that Nepal’s TikTok ban had torpedoed a market worth an estimated $5 million each year for advertisers and content creators, and which was set to grow rapidly.
After joining the platform in 2018, twin sisters Prisma and Princy Khatiwada built a following of nearly eight million on TikTok with videos of their synchronised dance routines.
Their popularity has netted them endorsement deals and modelling contracts in music videos and advertisements.
Both sisters still post to their individual accounts but their recent videos have been watched just tens of thousands of times on average — miniscule compared to the 70 million views one of their biggest viral hits got before the ban.
“Where we stand today is because of TikTok... so many people were earning and getting opportunities through it,” Ms. Prisma said. “We are hopeful that the ban will be lifted.”