Nepal blocked TikTok

In mid-November 2023, Nepal’s government reportedly banned TikTok, citing concerns over the app’s disruptive impact on social harmony and family structures. Very few OONI measurements from the testing of TikTok in Nepal have been collected over the last month. But from the few OONI measurements available, we see clear evidence of TikTok blocking.

Between 24th to 29th November 2023, the TikTok website (www.tiktok.com) was tested 3 times in Nepal on 2 networks (AS38565 and AS17501), showing signs of DNS based tampering in all cases. The OONI measurement from Ncell (AS38565) shows that the IP 52.16.240.96 is returned as part of DNS resolution, which hosts a block page (including an injected ad). Meanwhile, an OONI measurement from WorldLink Communications (AS17501) shows that the private IP 127.0.0.1 is returned as part of DNS resolution. Both cases clearly show intentional DNS-based blocking of www.tiktok.com.

Similarly, OONI data shows that the testing of multiple TikTok endpoints (required for TikTok app functionality) presented anomalies during the same dates, and that those anomalous measurements also provide evidence of DNS based blocking. Specifically, measurements from the testing of TikTok endpoints (such as https://m.tiktok.com/robots.txt and https://p16-sign-sg.tiktokcdn.com/robots.txt) show that the IP 52.16.240.96 (currently hosting a block page) and the private IP 127.0.0.1 were returned as part of DNS resolution.

Overall, even though very few measurements have been collected from the testing of TikTok in Nepal, the few measurements that are available provide clear signs of DNS based blocking because:

1) On Ncell (AS38565), DNS resolution returns the IP 52.16.240.96 which (currently) hosts a block page;

2) On WorldLink Communications (AS17501), DNS resolution returns the private IP 127.0.0.1;

3) We observe the above for the TikTok website (www.tiktok.com) and multiple TikTok endpoints during the same dates (particularly on 29th November 2023 when there was a spike in testing).

While the most recent measurements (from 3rd December 2023) are annotated as “OK”, it’s worth noting that those were contributed by OONI Probe users using Google DNS, thereby (potentially) circumventing the TikTok block.

Update on 23rd August 2024: Subsequent OONI measurements from the testing of TikTok in Nepal suggest that the platform remained blocked in the country over the next 9 months. The following chart aggregates OONI measurement coverage from the testing of www.tiktok.com on multiple networks in Nepal between 5th November 2023 to 23rd August 2024.

While the overall measurement coverage over the last 9 months remained relatively low, it's worth noting that most measurements presented anomalies, providing a signal of ongoing blocking throughout this period.

Notably, on 22nd August 2024, Nepal's government reportedly decided to lift the TikTok ban under certain conditions -- if TikTok's parent company complies with these terms and conditions within a 3-month deadline. These conditions reportedly include "helping to promote Nepal's tourism, investing in digital literacy efforts, supporting to uplift Nepal's public education system, and being mindful of the language used on its platform".

The extent to which TikTok will comply with these conditions currently remains unclear to us, while the last TikTok measurement was contributed on 15th August 2024, limiting our ability to confirm the unblocking of TikTok across networks in Nepal.

If you are in Nepal, you can contribute more measurements by running OONI Probe.