Nepal, March 10 -- As the debate over Nepal's proposed and rather controversial social media bill continues, the Post's Aarati Ray spoke with Ana Cristina Ruelas, Senior Programme Specialist on Freedom of Expression at UNESCO. Ruelas offered an assessment of how the bill falls short of international human rights standards.

You engaged with members of Parliament as part of the social media bill review process. How did they respond?

We organised a workshop on March 5 and 6 to engage with MPs. The discussion was based on UNESCO's 'Guidelines for the Governance of Digital Platforms'. We aimed to integrate international human rights principles and a multi-stakeholder approach into the debate on Nepal's proposed social media bill.

The MPs we...