SC orders govt to draft social media laws

KATHMANDU, Sept 27: The Supreme Court (SC) has issued a directive order to the Government of Nepal to formulate laws regarding the regulation of social media.

A joint bench of SC Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Til Prasad Shrestha issued the directive after a full hearing on the petitions filed against the government's decision to ban TikTok.

Advocate Ananta Raj Luitel, the petitioner, said that a directive order was issued to formulate necessary legal provisions for regulation, as the decision to ban TikTok on November 12, 2024, had already been reversed by the government's decision on August 23, 2024 to reopen TikTok. Hence, a writ of mandamus was not necessary.

Advocate Luitel said that since the written verdict may take time, the two justices have noted the details of the order in their court diaries, and it has also been uploaded on the SC's website.

A total of 14 writ petitions were filed, including the initial petition by advocates Ananta Raj Luitel, Pratibha Upreti, and Bishal Thapa, challenging the decision to ban TikTok. The petitioners claimed that the decision violated the right to freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 17(2)(a) of the Constitution.

Article 17(2)(a) of the Constitution guarantees freedom of thought and expression, while Article 19(1) ensures that no complete ban shall be imposed on publishing or broadcasting any news, editorial, article, writing, or other textual, audio, or audiovisual content via any medium, including electronic media. The petitioners argued that the government's decision was illegal and should be annulled for violating these constitutional provisions.