KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal's government said Thursday it is blocking most social media platforms including Facebook, X and YouTube because the companies failed to comply with regulations that required them to register with the government.
Nepal's Minister for Communication and Information Prithvi Subba Gurung said about two dozen social network platforms that are widely used in Nepal were repeatedly given notices to come forward and register their companies officially in the country. The platforms would be blocked immediately, he said.
TikTok, Viber and three other social media platforms would be allowed to operate in Nepal because they have registered with the government.
Nepal government have been asking the companies to appoint a liaison office or point in the country. It has brought a bill in parliament that aims to ensure that social platforms are properly managed, responsible and accountable.
The bill, which has not yet been fully debated in parliament, has been widely criticized as a tool for censorship and punishing opponents who voice their protests online. Rights groups have called it an attempt by the government to curb freedom of expression and violate citizens’ fundamental rights.
Officials have said it was necessary to bring laws to monitor the social media and ensure that both the users and operators were responsible and accountable of what they share and what is being published or said on these platforms.
FILE - The Facebook app icon is seen on a smartphone, Feb. 28, 2023, in Marple Township, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
PURACE, Colombia (AP) — Oliverio Quira often goes to check on his cattle on a plot of land he owns less than a mile from the Purace volcano in southwestern Colombia. There he sits and watches the billowing ash column rising from the crater.
Despite a recent alert indicating that an eruption is likely in the coming days or weeks due to increased seismic activity at the volcano and the emission of ash columns reaching up to 900 meters (nearly 3,000 feet), he is not afraid.
“I’ve lived on the volcano, I grew up there … so I have no reason to fear it. I’ll keep going there, alert or not. I have to look after my animals,” Quira, 65, told The Associated Press. He is a member of the Purace Indigenous Reserve, a territory belonging to the Coconuco Indigenous people who have traditionally inhabited the volcano’s surroundings.
Still, since the alert issued on Nov. 29, the surrounding community has been on edge. Authorities have sought to prepare for a preventive evacuation of at least 800 people who live on the volcano’s periphery, in scattered homes among the mountains.
The Purace volcano, standing 4,640 meters (more than 15,000 feet) above sea level, is one of Colombia’s active volcanoes, with at least 51 eruptive events since the year 1400. Its most recent significant eruption was recorded in 1977, according to the Colombian Geological Service.
For the Coconuco people, the volcano is sacred and a protective spirit of their territory.
“The volcano is our master; we have no reason to fear it,” said Alfredo Manquillo, deputy governor of the Purace Indigenous Reserve. “That’s why we respect it and perform rituals in its name.”
Rituals include offering the crater corn, sweet plants and a traditional alcoholic drink made from fruit known as guarapo.
For the Indigenous community, the volcano sends them a message when it emits ash, asking for greater care of nature.
“The volcano is saying that we’ve exploited it too much … for about 60 years we took money from beneath it by extracting sulfur, and now with tourism we’re taking money from above it,” he said, referring to a sulfur mine that was closed a few years ago and to ecological hikes to the volcano. “It’s saying: ‘I’m the one in charge, I’m the one with the power.’”
Elders who have witnessed eruptions of the volcano have sought to reassure the younger members of the community who are seeing the volcano active for the first time.
Reinaldo Pizo, 75, was a child when the volcano erupted, hurling rocks. He recalls taking shelter under leafy trees or inside their thatched-roof homes.
His home is located in a risk zone, but he says he would only evacuate if the volcano were to emit poisonous gases.
Purace lacks the infrastructure and logistics needed for a full evacuation, so authorities are working to set up temporary shelters, according to Mayor Humberto Molano Hoyos.
But Manquillo said they also need water storage tanks, food and a solution to protect their livestock and domestic animals, which are vital to the agricultural and ranching community.
“As some of our companions say: ‘If we have to die here, we’ll die here. But we’re not going somewhere else just to die of hunger,’” Pizo said.
A motorcyclist ride on a road backdropped by the Purace volcano, near Purace, Colombia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
The Purace volcano spews plumes of ash and smoke, near Purace, Colombia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
A girl runs along a road backdropped by the the Purace volcano, near Purace, Colombia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
The Puzna hill is seen during a sunrise near Purace volcano, as Colombian officials ordered some families to evacuate after the volcano showed high levels of seismic activity in Purace, Colombia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. . (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
The Purace volcano spews plumes of ash and smoke, near Purace, Colombia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
