Kathmandu, February 15

The government has tabled a Bill on Information and Technology Management at the Parliament recently incorporating different restrictive provisions on the operation of social media sites in the country.

Becoming more restrictive in nature, the government is preparing to introduce provisions in the aforementioned bill including the mandatory registration of all social media sites at the Department of Information (DoI). Meanwhile, the government has said that the bill is being introduced to regulate social media operation in the country.

As per the Bill on Information and Technology Management, any new social media site has to be registered at DoI while existing social media sites should be registered at the department within a certain period that the government will fix following the endorsement of the bill. Similarly, the bill also states that the government can stop the operation of social sites that are being operated without registration.

“As the country’s electronic media, including social sites, are not properly regulated, the bill intends to regulate the electronic media scientifically,” informed a source at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MoICT).

The bill has also introduced a provision whereby ‘unnecessary’ postings on social media sites will be penalised with fine or imprisonment, or both fine and imprisonment. As per a provision in the bill, unnecessary postings on social media sites with the intention to undermine the country’s sovereignty, national security, national unity and other cultural and religious bonds will be penalised with up to Rs 1.5 million fine or up to five years of imprisonment or both depending on the nature of the offence.

Similarly, the bill has also restricted people from posting materials that undermine other people’s dignity and other materials that create havoc in the society. Similarly, anyone defaming people’s character without sufficient evidences will also be liable to face the aforementioned punishment.

All these provisions are being introduced not to control social media sites but to curb the misuse of social media platforms, say government officials.

However, the government’s plan to regulate social media also intends to bring social media under the tax net of the government, which will ultimately increase the revenue of the government.

Meanwhile, the government has already started facing criticism from different quarters for its attempt to bring such restrictive policy citing that such policies are against the right to information and speech guaranteed by the Constitution.