Nepal's SC sets hearing on petitions against TikTok ban on Nov 20

Nepal's Supreme Court on Friday said it will hold the preliminary hearing of the writ petitions filed against the government's decision to ban the Chinese-owned social network platform Tiktok on Monday.

The Nepal government on Monday decided to ban the popular social media platform, citing its negative effects on social harmony.

Legal practitioners filed 10 writ petitions at the apex court against the government's decision to ban TikTok in the Himalayan nation on Friday, the first day of the opening of the courts after the Tihar holidays.

After registering the 10 writ petitions, the Supreme Court scheduled the preliminary hearing for November 20, according to a court official.

About 10 writ petitions have been registered, and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 20, said Spokesperson for the Supreme Court, Bhadrakali Pokharel.

He said that all registered writ petitions will be heard on Monday.

Senior advocate Dinesh Tripathi, advocate Swagat Nepal, and others have filed separate writ petitions against the government's decision to ban TikTok.

They have demanded that the government's decision be scrapped because the ban on TikTok has violated citizens' freedom of opinion and expression.

The petitioners have claimed that there was no legal basis for taking such a decision.

Although freedom of expression is a basic right, a large section of society has criticised TikTok for encouraging a tendency of hate speech, the government said.

The decision to ban Toktok is another setback for the Chinese networking platform, which has come under scrutiny in various countries, including India, the US, the European Union and the UK, where the governments have banned the application from its network over security concerns.