Kathmandu – The government has registered a bill for regulating social media. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology registered the bill in the National Assembly Bills Branch on Tuesday morning, informed Ananta Koirala, Assistant Spokesperson of the Parliament Secretariat.

The bill, which was brought to tighten the social media ‘platform’ and its users, has strict provisions for a fine of up to 10 million rupees and imprisonment up to five years.

Users will not be allowed to broadcast offensive words, audio and video, trolling photos, insulting or hate speech with the intention of harming someone’s honor and reputation through their ID. Network users will not be allowed to post, share, like, repost, live streaming, subscribe, comment, tag, hashtag or mention on social media with wrong intentions. If they do so, the Information and Broadcasting Department under the government can impose a fine of up to 500,000 rupees against them. Sub-sections 2 and 3 of Section 16 of the Bill state, ‘No unlawful act shall be posted, shared, liked, reposted, live-streamed, subscribed, commented, tagged, hashtagged or mentioned on social media with wrong intentions. The Department may impose a fine of up to five hundred thousand rupees on a social media user who commits an act contrary to Sub-section (2).’

It has been stated that anyone who disseminates false or misleading information in a manner that undermines the sovereignty, geographical integrity of the country or is detrimental to national interest shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of five years or a fine of up to 1.5 million rupees or both. Sub-sections 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Section 27 of the Bill state, ‘Anonymous or pseudonymous identities shall not be created or used. The offender shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of three months or a fine of up to 50,000 rupees or both. False or misleading information should not be disseminated by creating a pseudonym, permanent or temporary group, page or any other type of ID that undermines the sovereignty, geographical integrity of Nepal or is detrimental to national interests. The offender will be punished according to the prevailing law, and if the punishment is not mentioned in the prevailing law, he will be punished with imprisonment for up to five years or a fine of up to 1.5 million rupees, or both.

Similarly, according to the bill, any social media platform operating in Nepal must be registered. It has been stated that no social media platform can be operated without registration. If a registered social media platform disseminates or causes content that undermines the peace, security, stability, sovereignty, geographical integrity, national security, national unity, independence, or self-respect of the country, not only will the license be revoked, but it is also mentioned that such platforms will be fined from 2.5 million to 10 million rupees.