Ignoring widespread criticism and demands for its withdrawal, the government on Sunday introduced the controversial Social Media Bill in the National Assembly.

Minister for Communications and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung introduced the bill saying a new law was necessary to hold social media platform operators and users responsible and accountable. “This bill has no intention of curtailing freedom of expression,” he said. “It only aims at regulating social media platforms.”

The opposition parties that have been criticising the bill publicly, however, did not oppose it in the upper house. There is a practice of registering rejection proposals against any bill that the opposition parties don’t want to get in Parliament. However, no opposition parties including the CPN (Maoist Centre) registered the proposal in the Assembly.

Asked why no such proposal was registered, Maoist Centre chief whip at the National Assembly Gopi Acchami Sarki said, “We lacked preparation. We have several reservations over the bill. Our party will register an amendment to it later.”

Not just the opposition parties, even the ruling party lawmakers and journalists have criticised the bill, saying several of its provisions pose a threat to free speech and press freedom.

If the bill gets endorsed, social media platforms will have to post up to Rs10 million in fines if they don’t comply with the government conditions while a user disseminating misleading information can be subject to up to five years of imprisonment and fine of up to Rs1.5 million.

As per the bill, companies, firms or organisations seeking to operate social media platforms need to get government approval. Different types of applications (apps), websites, and blogs, among others, created in cyberspace that allow interaction through electronic means have been defined as social media platforms.

The bill has listed out around dozens of offenses that can make users liable to paying hefty fines and imprisonment.

Those who transmit false or misleading information through fake identity are liable to the most severe penalty, which can lead to five years of imprisonment and a fine up to Rs1.5 million.

“No one shall open a false, permanent or temporary group, or page on any social media platform individually or in group and transmit false or misleading information that undermines Nepal’s sovereignty, geographical integrity or adversely affect national interest,” states one section of the bill.

Any individual who posts or shares content on social media that “disturbs the sovereignty, territorial integrity, national unity and security of Nepal” will be imprisoned for up to five years or fined up to Rs500,000, or both, the bill further states.

The bill, which has been registered in the National Assembly, will be introduced for preliminary discussions. Once the upper house accepts the bill, lawmakers will be allowed to register amendments. The upper chamber, after endorsement, will forward it to the lower house where it goes to deliberations before the approval. It is then returned to the National Assembly for review before it is dispatched to the President’s Office for authentication.

If it gets endorsed without revision, those who create fake pages and groups and from them, post or share content on social media, share content of others, comment or call will be imprisoned for three months or fined up to Rs50,000 or both.

Using social media to harass, torment, threaten, embarrass, insult, dehumanise or spread rumours and imitate someone’s voice will make the offender liable to two years in prison or a fine of up to Rs300,000. The bill says anyone who ‘hacks’ someone’s social media account will be imprisoned for up to three years and fined up to Rs1.5 million.

The bill also proposes that those who make ‘deepfake’ videos using artificial intelligence and spread them on social media can be jailed for up to 2 years or fined up to Rs300,000. Provision has also been made in the bill for those who spread obscene, false or misleading content to be imprisoned for up to 2 years or fined up to Rs300,000.