Nepal’S Gen Z Protest After Government Imposes Ban On 26 Social Media Channels

In an abrupt move, the Government of Nepal has imposed use of at least 26 Social Media channels including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and YouTube. The ban has come in wake of protecting the sovereignty of the country and also non-adherence and non-compliance of these social media channels to the registration directives.

Earlier, the Government of Nepal had suggested 7 Days of Window period for the registration of social media channels in the country, and this period expired soon. Therefore, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, after consulting the telecom operators as well as Nepal Telecommunication Authority, put in place an obligatory ban.

The infuriated Gen Z is agitating on the roads and streets as this decision by the Nepalese Government poses a direct threat to the freedom of speech. Most of the young protectors and agitators are seeing the ban as a cover up against the corruption. In the most recent clashes there have been as many as 14 people killed.  Several clashes have also been reported outside the parliament building in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Protesters screamed anti-government slogans as they stood indelibly on barricades during a protest against corruption and the decision of the government for banning several social media platforms. The Nepali denizens were agitated by the corruption that surfaced in the 2017 Airbus deal, whereby a Nepal Airlines bought two A330 wide-body jets. 

Soon after the deal, there was a five-year-long inquiry instituted into the whole matter under the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), a ombudsman appointed under the country’s constitution, revealed last year that the deal led to a loss of 1.47 billion rupees ($10.4m) to the exchequer. The malicious deal involved many of the top officials who were convicted by CIAA following the investigation. The conviction of these officials had brought aggressive social media criticism as well. There were alleged reports showing the videos of the children of influential Nepalese politicians on Tiktok, enjoying super luxury lives in a country where the per capita income is slated as $1,300.