From sparking protests that toppled Nepalese Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli to giving young people a platform to discuss their country’s political future, social media was key to Nepal’s extraordinary uprising this week.
Fuelled in part by anger over flashy lifestyles flaunted by elites, young anti-corruption demonstrators, mainly in their 20s, rallied on Monday.
The loose grouping, largely viewed as members of “Gen Z,” flooded the capital, Kathmandu, to demand an end to a ban on Facebook, YouTube and other popular sites.
Photo: AFP
The rallies ended in chaos and tragedy, with at least 19 protesters killed in a police crackdown on Monday. The apps were restored, but protests widened in anger.
On Tuesday, other Nepalese joined the crowds. Parliament was set ablaze, Oli resigned as prime minister, and the army took charge of the streets.
Now, many protestors are taking to the US group-chat app Discord to talk over their next steps.
One server with more than 145,000 members has hosted feverish debate about who could be an interim leader, with many pushing 73-year-old former chief justice Sushila Karki, who was expected to be named interim prime minister after press time last night following her meeting with Nepalese President Ramchandra Paudel.
It is just one example of how social media have driven demands for change.
Days before the protests, many had rushed to virtual private network (VPN) services to evade blocks on platforms.
Fears of a wider Internet shutdown also drove a surge in downloads for Bluetooth messaging app Bitchat, created by tech billionaire Jack Dorsey.
“Tech played... an almost decisive role,” journalist Pranaya Rana said. “The whole thing started with young people posting on social media about corruption, and the lavish lives that the children of political leaders were leading.”
Hashtags such as #NepoKids, short for nepotism, compared the designer clothing and luxury holidays shown off in their Instagram posts to the difficulties faced by ordinary Nepalis.
One post liked 13,000 times said politicians’ children were “living like millionaires,” asking: “Where is the tax money going?”
“NepoKids was trending all the time,” including in rural areas where Facebook is popular, rights advocate Sanjib Chaudhary said.
“This fuelled the fire” of anger that “has been growing for a long time,” he said.
Deep dissatisfaction lies behind the social unrest in the Himalayan nation, among young people exasperated with slow economic development and political instability.
A week ago, Nepal said it would block access to 26 social media platforms, from Facebook to X and LinkedIn, for failing to meet a deadline to register in the country.
Interest rose in Dorsey’s Bitchat platform, which works offline and describes itself as a way to resist censorship.
“There when you need it,” wrote Dorsey on X, citing a post describing a “sudden spike” in Bitchat downloads during the protests in Indonesia and Nepal.
Chaudhary said the government “seriously underestimated the power of social media.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
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