If social media is shut down in Nepal, the US may deny visas to employees including the Prime Minister

 If social media is shut down in Nepal, the US may deny visas to employees including the Prime Minister

After the Nepalese government decided to tighten restrictions on social media platforms, the risk of the US denying visas to government employees involved in this process, including the Prime Minister, has increased. This situation has arisen because the US has adopted a policy of not allowing entry to foreign officials involved in efforts to regulate or shut down social media.

The US has implemented a visa ban policy targeting officials from countries that are trying to implement strict rules to regulate the content of social media platforms. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had informed about this policy in a press release on May 28, 2025. According to this policy, the US has made it clear that it will not grant visas to foreign citizens responsible for censorship (restricting) expressions considered safe in their country.

Meanwhile, after the Nepalese government and the Council of Ministers decided to gradually deactivate (inactive) social media that are not listed (registered) with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology after seven days, the possibility of Nepali officials also falling victim to visa bans has increased. The seven-day deadline given by the Ministry of Communications ends on Wednesday. The government is preparing to shut down social media platforms that have not even come into contact with the listing before that. However, government officials have not yet made any preparations for that.

Despite the government's call for registration, none of the major American social media platforms, including others, have come forward for listing. Popular social media platform operators including Meta (which includes Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp), X, Google (including YouTube), Microsoft (including LinkedIn), and Discord are American companies.

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung has been harsh on Facebook's parent company Meta. He has been accusing Meta's representatives of disappearing after making verbal commitments to help in the health and agriculture sectors. He has repeatedly urged them to come forward for listing, saying that Meta is not bigger than the Constitution of Nepal.

The US State Department’s visa ban policy targets foreign nationals who are responsible for censoring expressions considered protected in the US. While the US is interpreting censorship as regulating content on social media platforms, there is a risk that banning the platforms themselves will be viewed more seriously.

Under this policy, the US has also placed on a list of authorities who issue or threaten to issue arrest warrants to US citizens or permanent residents in the US over posts on US social media platforms. The US has also placed on a list of those who pressure US platforms to adopt a global ‘content monitoring’ policy or engage in censorship activities that extend beyond their jurisdiction into the US.

The decision to close down social media platforms was taken at a cabinet meeting on the proposal of the Ministry of Communications. If the government blocks social media, there is a risk that US policy could impose visa bans on the Prime Minister who chairs the cabinet meeting, ministers participating in the meeting, the Chief Secretary, officials from the Ministry of Communications who submit proposals and call for listing, as well as officials from the Nepal Telecommunications Authority who instruct mobile operators (telecommunication service providers) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block access to social media platforms in the Ministry of Communications' correspondence.

An employee of the regulatory body, the Telecommunications Authority, told Tekpana, "The issue of banning social media platforms is not only an internal matter of our country. It has geopolitical (geographical influence on the relationship of two or more countries) issues. We must be sensitive. On top of that, the US has linked social media censorship to actions ranging from visa bans. This could make it difficult for government employees to officials and their families to enter the US tomorrow."