Kathmandu, Feb. 10 -- 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 ...