"Nepal government bans Telegram app for enabling criminal activities", 24 July 2025

Freedom Forum reminded authorities that "banning access [to online platforms] is not a permanent solution" to online crimes.

The government has banned the Telegram App. The Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) issued a directive to all telecom and internet service providers to immediately restrict access to Telegram on July 18. The National Coordination Committee for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorist Activities under the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers issued a notice on July 17 directing Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to ban the social messaging application. The committee cited the application’s increasing use in online fraud, money laundering, and other serious cybercrimes as primary reasons for the ban.

.. the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police also raised concern that regulation of the application was challenging and the application continued to be a platform for criminal activities – for instance fake job offers, the illegal drug trade, fraudulent money transfers, etc. .. the video messaging application TikTok was also banned in Nepal in November 2023; it later resumed operating nine months later on August 2024, when the application’s company agreed to the government’s conditions to follow necessary regulatory provisions.

Freedom Forum’s Executive Chief, Taranath Dahal, stated, “The primary responsibility for the crimes committed through the application lies with the involved criminal group or individuals, rather than the platform itself. Although the platform also has some responsibility to monitor and mitigate its misuse, banning access is not a permanent solution. If the platform has been misused, what needs to be developed is a strong regulatory measure to address such criminal activities, thereby not risking users’ rights to digital platforms.”