Nepal has reportedly banned TikTok after describing content on the platform as "detrimental to social harmony”.

Rekha Sharma, minister for communications and information technology, told the BBC that the social media app was involved in spreading malicious content.

She said that the ban would come into effect immediately, adding that telecom authorities have been directed to implement the decision.

The ban on the ByteDance-owned app follows a new law which requires social media companies to set up liaison office in Nepal, according to the BBC.

National Technology News has reached out to TikTok for comment.

The move comes after other countries and government organisations took steps to ban or limit access to TikTok earlier this year.

In August, New York City reportedly banned TikTok on government devices over security concerns. The administration of New York City mayor Eric Adams said at the time that the social media app “posed a security threat to the city’s technical networks.”

In April, Republican lawmakers in Montana passed a bill to ban TikTok in the state. TikTok later sued the state, arguing that the ban violates the First Amendment rights of the company and its users.

The EU Commission also banned TikTok from both corporate and personal devices over cybersecurity concerns, while the Danish public-service broadcaster DR advised employees not to use TikTok on their devices after a security review and warnings from Denmark’s Centre for Cyber Security.

Meanwhile in Scotland, members of parliament and employees working in Holyrood were “strongly advised” to remove the app from their devices in March. During the same month, the UK government also banned TikTok on work devices citing the need to keep sensitive information secure.

Earlier this month, Shou Zi Chew, the chief executive of social media platform TikTok, met with EU industry chief Thierry Breton, EU digital chief Vera Jourova and EU antitrust chief Didier Reynders to discuss the company’s data security programme.

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