Nepali Congress general secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa has said although it was necessary to regulate the social networking sites to discourage their misuse, they should not be closed in the name of regulating them.

He charged that the government was heading towards the opposite direction by deciding to close TikTok. Lawmaker Thapa’s remarks come following a meeting of the Council of Ministers today decided to close TikTok in Nepal. He said it is wrong to ban the social site in the name of regulating it. “Regulation is required to dissuade those misusing the social networking sites, but it is blatantly wrong to close them down in the name of regulating them. This is something to do with the government’s intention rather than shutting or not shutting down one social media site,” Thapa said in his social site.

The NC general secretary accused that the government’s motive appears to be of muzzling ‘freedom of expression and personal freedom’. “The government should correct this step,” he demanded