Silencing the critics

The social media bill must be revised through the broadest possible consultations.

Social media has brought people closer, made communication easier and become a platform for the exercise of free speech. However, it has also become a hotbed for hate speech and false and malicious content. With time, many online outlets began disseminating more fake news and mis/disinformation than genuine news. Thus successive governments have tried to regulate these mediums to ‘safeguard the society’. Now, Minister for Communication and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung is at it. Arguing that it is already too late to regulate online media in Nepal, he had been pushing Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to enact the controversial Social Media Bill-2025 through an ordinance. Following the premier’s go-ahead, Gurung registered the bill in the National Assembly on Tuesday.