The Nepalese government has filed an incredibly controversial Social Media Bill for debate in the National Assembly, and it has received hundreds of thousands of backlash criticizing the bill and demanding that it be withdrawn. Prithvi Subba Gurung, minister for communications and information technology, defended the bill, saying that it targets social media platform regulation and accountability of operators and users and does not limit freedom of expression.
However, the bill has encountered fierce pushback from opposition members of parliament, as well as from lawmakers from the ruling party and journalist groups. While all opposition parties raised concerns over the bill during the discussion, they did not vote against it in the upper house; however, the CPN (Maoist Centre) said it would seek amendments to the bill later. The bill imposes severe penalties, such as heavy fines and prison time, for disseminating false or misleading information.