When Nepal’s government abruptly banned 26 major social media platforms in September, it didn’t just cause an internet outage; it sparked a nationwide digital uprising. What started as a protest against online restrictions quickly transformed into a movement led by Gen Z, demanding accountability, transparency and a greater voice in the country’s political and digital future.
“I think what a lot of international coverage misses is that this protest was never just about social media. Yes, the ban on 26 platforms triggered the response, but the real fuel was deeper: corruption that had crossed all limits,” said 26-year-old Prince Shah Chaudhary, CEO of online petition platform SpeakUp Nepal, who was part of the protests that swept across Nepal from September 8-13.
Chaudhary recalled the moment the announcement was made. “The government announced the ban with zero consultation. The message felt clear: ‘You’re not allowed to talk back.’ For young people like me, that was just unacceptable. It wasn’t just about TikTok; it was also Facebook and WhatsApp, platforms our families, small businesses, diaspora communities and even school groups rely on every single day. These are not luxuries; they are part of our daily civic, economic and social lives.”
The protests cut across demographics. “It was creators, students, doctors, engineers, filmmakers and even high school kids in uniforms. People who may never have joined a protest before felt compelled to say, ‘No, this is not okay,’” he explained.
Chaudhary also highlighted the economic stakes for Nepal’s youth. “In the short term, the effects were immediate and brutal. I personally know young people who run their entire business off Facebook and Instagram. Some of them had customers waiting, parcels half-shipped, and suddenly, they couldn’t respond.”
“Freelancers who work with international clients lost communication overnight because they used WhatsApp or Telegram to coordinate. Students preparing for exams lost their peer groups, study materials and even daily schedule reminders that were all shared online. That’s the reality in Nepal: the internet isn’t a luxury. It is infrastructure,” he added.
Chaudhary warned that the long-term consequences could be even more severe. “It told our youth: your livelihoods, your learning, your voice, all of that can be taken away if it inconveniences power. It told global investors: Nepal is unstable when it comes to tech governance. It told innovators: don’t build here unless you want your platform blocked overnight.”
The Road to Protests: What Sparked the Digital Uprising
On September 8, protests erupted in response to the Nepal government’s social media regulations, which require platforms to register with the communications ministry and appoint a local grievance officer. While TikTok and Viber complied, 26 others, including Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, did not.
According to Suvechchha Chapagain, senior programme officer at Accountability Lab Nepal, this raised concerns that the measure was less about tackling misinformation and more about expanding state control over digital platforms. “The backlash made it evident that Nepali citizens do not tolerate digital authoritarianism disguised as governance.”
According to Pius Fozan, communications manager at the International Currency Association, the government’s approach was standard compared with other countries. “What the government asked platforms to do was fairly standard…TikTok complied with this requirement, as did Viber.”
Fozan points to global precedents where social media giants have faced tough regulation. The European Commission fined Apple over €1.8 billion in 2024 and repeatedly imposed antitrust penalties on Google. More recently, Meta was forced to scale back its political advertising programme due to EU regulations.
Meanwhile, the Australian News Media Bargaining Code compelled Facebook and Google to negotiate payments to news organisations after some initial resistance. By comparison, Nepal is a young democracy with institutions still in their infancy. Thus, to label its regulatory efforts as outright authoritarian is unfair, he said.
Yet, Fozan acknowledges that regulation remains essential. “But that does not negate the underlying need for regulation. Social media platforms must be held accountable for how algorithms amplify hate, spread misinformation or facilitate fraud. These are rampant problems widespread in South Asia. We cannot forget how, in Myanmar, an unmoderated Facebook helped fuel anti-Rohingya hate speech and contributed to the 2017 genocide and exodus of Rohingya. That could not happen unchecked in Europe or North American countries.”
“As for the legitimacy of the law itself and the spontaneous anger it triggered, I see the two as separate. The law was a spark, a trigger perhaps, but the deeper frustration stems from decades of political stagnation, where three familiar figures, [Sher Bahadur] Deuba, [Pushpa Kamal Dahal] Prachanda and [KP Sharma] Oli, have rotated power among themselves like a musical chair. Young people wanted a break from that cycle, and you could already sense this mood in the last parliamentary elections,” he added.
Government Shakeup: Political Accountability in Nepal
The protests had immediate political consequences. Oli resigned as the PM, the Parliament was dissolved, and the government underwent a major reshuffle.
“Now, as the government is toppled, the parties that had long been dominated by ageing political figures are agreeing to conditions for a citizen-led government within the constitutional framework,” Chapagain noted.
Chapagain frames the protests as a moment of political accountability.
From the government’s perspective, the original social media registration requirement may have been intended to improve governance and combat misinformation. But the backlash demonstrated the public’s intolerance for digital authoritarianism and corruption in Nepal, forcing policymakers to rethink their approach.
Implications on Tech Policies
Meanwhile, public policy researchers see the protests as a wake-up call for youth-inclusive governance. “The Gen Z protests erupted almost spontaneously, mobilised through platforms like Reddit and Discord, while major social media were still blocked. For years, leaders underestimated the public’s awareness of corruption, but digital spaces offered young people a lens into the lavish lives of the politicians and a tool for collective action,” Chapagain said.
Fozan emphasised the dual nature of regulation in a rapidly digitising society. “I would not frame it in binary terms. Regulation of social media and wider tech systems is essential in our times of rapid technological disruption. These humongous platforms are no longer experimental, entrepreneurial, or marginal; they are entrenched infrastructures with influence unmatched by any other parallel system in history.”
“They have unusually unpredictable power in the way information is created and distributed. They can select, push, ban and remove information the way they like if not checked by law, and they most likely do it all the time, anyway,” he highlighted.
Long-Term Effects: Gen Z’s Digital Empowerment
Reflecting on the future, Chaudhary underscored the lasting impact of these protests. “We didn’t wait for a party or politician to lead us. We used the very platforms they tried to ban to organise, inform and mobilise. It was decentralised, but not chaotic. Everyone knew the two core demands: lift the ban and investigate the corruption cases fairly.”
The successful mobilisation has sparked mainstream conversations around tech policy, digital rights and governance reform. “In the end, the government had to listen. The ban was reversed. And now, for the first time in years, we’re seeing mainstream conversations about tech policy, digital rights and governance reforms. That didn’t happen because of violence or political pressure. It happened because young people demanded better: persistently and powerfully,” Chaudhary explained.
For Nepal’s Gen Z, the episode is not merely about restoring access to social media. It is about asserting their economic, social and civic stakes in a digital world. “These platforms are infrastructure. They are livelihoods, they are learning, they are connections. And we’ve shown that if you try to cut them off arbitrarily, young people will push back and they will win,” Chaudhary concluded.
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