Nepal Protests Against Social Media Ban Leave 19 Dead, 150 Injured

Police reportedly opened fire on demonstrators in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, after protests against a government ban on most social media platforms swelled to enormous size on Monday. The official casualty count included 19 dead and 150 injured as of Monday afternoon.

The Nepalese government announced late last week that it would ban most of the big social media platforms – including X, Facebook, and YouTube – because they missed a deadline to “register” with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. 

Only five platforms had complied as of Monday, and only one of them was a household name: China’s controversial TikTok. TikTok was among the first social media platforms to register with the Nepalese government, in order to get back online after it was banned for spreading “hateful content” in late 2023.

Roughly 90% of the Nepalese population is online, and their favorite platform is Facebook, by a wide margin. Many small businesses use social media for advertising and sales, so the ban will inflict tremendous financial damage upon them.

The registration process included giving the ministry the names of a contact for each company in Nepal, specifying a “grievance handler,” and assigning a company employee to take responsibility for “self-regulation.” Internet companies were given only seven days to comply.

Critics of the registration initiative said it was unreasonable and imposed significant costs on social media companies, most of which do not have a physical office in Nepal. They also noted that the order for immediate registration was based on legislation that has not actually been passed by the Nepalese Parliament.

The social media ban touched on several raw nerves in Nepalese society, inflaming the resentments of young people who rely heavily on social media for entertainment, communication, and political organizing. 

Critics angrily accused the government of attempting to silence dissent amid massive corruption scandals, some of them linked to China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Some suspected the government was trying to stifle criticism of BRI to keep Chinese investors happy.

The government of Nepal insisted registration of social media companies was necessary to crack down on disinformation, cybercrime, and underhanded efforts to disrupt “social harmony.” Judging by the size of the protest in Kathmandu on Monday, very few of the nation’s young people accepted that explanation.

Chanting and waving banners with slogans like “Stop the Ban on Social Media,” “Youths Against Corruption,” and “Stop Corruption, Not Social Media,” thousands of young demonstrators flooded the streets of the capital city and marched toward the parliament building. The movement was dubbed the “Gen Z Protest” due to the youth of most participants.

The police tried to impose a curfew at 12:30 p.m. local time as the demonstrations grew and expanded to other cities. When the curfew order was ignored, police used water cannons, batons, and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

At some point during the ensuing chaos, a mass of protesters surged toward the parliament building, where vastly outnumbered riot police were taking refuge. Some of the police officers reportedly switched to live ammo when the protesters attempted to storm the building.

“The police have been firing indiscriminately. They fired bullets which missed me, but hit a friend who was standing behind me. He was hit in the hand,” one protester told foreign reporters on Monday.

“We want our country back. We came to stop corruption,” said another, one of several protesters who said the social media ban was the final straw for young people opposed to the corruption and authoritarianism of their government.

In addition to the 17 protesters killed and over 150 injured in the confrontation, police officials said 28 officers were wounded.

Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli called an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday to discuss the protests. The curfew order remains in effect, and a small number of soldiers have been deployed to help the police enforce it.