Tripping on TikTok

Both the ban on the social media app and its lifting have been arbitrary.

Exactly a year ago, the then Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government banned TikTok after introducing the ‘Directives on the Operation of Social Networking 2023’. Many considered this an attack on freedom of expression. Just when people seemed to have grown accustomed to the ban, the current KP Sharma Oli-led government lifted the nine-month restriction on the platform on August 22 . Last week, TikTok finalised its registration process in line with the 2023 directives. With the video-sharing platform officially registered and operational in the country, the debate around it seems to have subsided. But how does registration make the platform better, and why was the ban implemented so suddenly if it was going to be reversed just as swiftly?