The government has lifted the ban on the popular video-sharing platform TikTok after prohibiting it for nearly nine months.

The Cabinet meeting on Thursday lifted the ban imposed on the social platform.

According to Minister for Information and Communication Technology, Prithvi Subba Gurung, who is also the government spokesperson, the government has also asked the TikTok company to fulfill certain conditions while operating the app in Nepal within a period of three months.

According to him, TikTok has to contribute to the promotion of tourism in Nepal, invest in making people aware of digital safety, upgrade the quality of public education, and be sensitive while using the language in the app.

Earlier, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology had an hour-long discussion on Tuesday to decide the fate of TikTok in Nepal. Observers say the issue is global and at the centre of a geopolitical contest between the US and China.

TikTok’s patent company, the ByteDance, earlier this month, emailed Minister Gurung requesting that the ban be lifted as it would follow the country’s all rules and regulations.

The letter expressed commitment to get registered with Nepal's Social Media Management Unit and to operate within the legal framework of the country. All social media companies operating in Nepal are required to be mandatorily registered with this unit under the ministry. The then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government approved the directive three days before the enforcing ban on TikTok last November.

Despite the ban, users continued to access TikTok through VPNs and open DNS, which, according to internet service providers in Nepal, increased international bandwidth consumption and negatively impacted their revenue. Representatives from Ncell publicly stated that the ban on TikTok resulted in a monthly revenue loss of nearly Rs 600 million.

Fourteen separate petitions were filed against the TikTok ban in the Supreme Court. The Asia Internet Coalition (AIC), representing social media companies such as Google, Apple, Meta, Amazon, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Rakuten, and Spotify, sent two letters to the government, arguing that the ban on TikTok without proper legal provisions and the subsequent monitoring of other apps was against international practices.

The Dahal government banned TikTok, citing its adverse effects on social harmony on November 13, 2024.