Nepal social media ban lifted after deadly protests leave 19 dead

Zayne Maddox Sep 9 0 Comments

After 19 killed, Nepal lifts weeklong social media blackout

Nineteen people were killed in Kathmandu after police opened fire on huge crowds protesting a nationwide social media blackout. Hours later, Nepal’s government reversed course and lifted the ban, ending a week of blocked access to 26 platforms including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, X, and YouTube. Authorities imposed an indefinite curfew in the capital, shut schools, and extended curfews to two other cities as hospitals treated dozens of wounded.

The protests swelled to tens of thousands outside the Parliament building, led largely by young Nepalis who called the demonstrations the “Gen Z protests.” Many waved national flags and chanted, “Stop the ban on social media. Stop corruption, not social media.” Police used live rounds after a day of escalating clashes. At the National Trauma Center, Dr. Badri Risa said seven people who died and many of the injured had gunshot wounds to the head and chest. Families waited anxiously for news, while blood donors queued outside.

The blackout had begun last week after major platforms did not comply with a new state demand: register locally and accept oversight so officials could monitor what they called “undesirable content.” The order stemmed from a Supreme Court directive issued on September 29 last year. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology then posted a notice on August 28 giving platforms seven days to register or face deactivation. Several services did comply, including TikTok and messaging app Viber. TikTok, previously banned in Nepal in the name of protecting “social harmony,” was reinstated after agreeing to coordinate with law enforcement. But giants like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp did not register, triggering the sweep of blocks.

By Tuesday, the price of the crackdown had become impossible to ignore. The government lifted the blocks on the 26 platforms and announced a formal investigation into the shootings. The Home Affairs Minister resigned, a rare step in a country where accountability for protest violence has often moved slowly. Curfews remained in force as night fell, and authorities hinted at further security measures if crowds tried to gather again.

The scale of disruption underscored how deeply social media is woven into daily life in Nepal. Analysis shows 14.3 million active social media user identities at the start of 2025—nearly half the population—covering everything from family chats to microbusiness sales. Over the last decade, Facebook pages and WhatsApp groups have become storefronts for tailors, trekking guides, and small electronics sellers. The weeklong blackout cut off marketing, customer support, and payments coordination for many of these small operators.

Officials argued the registration push was aimed at curbing hate speech, fraud, harassment, and viral misinformation. But the move collided with a younger generation’s expectations of open platforms and instant communication. That clash played out in the streets. Protesters framed the ban as a broad attack on speech rather than a targeted fix for abuse. The label “Gen Z protests” stuck because people born between 1995 and 2010—students, early-career workers, and creators—were the most visible and vocal.

Legal questions now sit at the center of the debate. The Supreme Court’s earlier order gave the government cover to demand registration. Even so, critics say the policy lacked clear safeguards, especially on how “undesirable content” would be defined and who would decide what gets removed. Without a transparent appeals process, platforms and users feared arbitrary takedowns and surveillance. That fear, paired with the sweeping nature of the ban, poured fuel on the protests.

Public trust took another hit after the shootings. In Kathmandu, eyewitnesses described panic as gunfire broke out near barricades, followed by frantic rushes to evacuate the wounded. Doctors at the trauma center reported a surge of injuries, many severe. With the curfew in place, families struggled to reach hospitals or get official information, and it took hours for many to confirm the fate of relatives.

For the government, the immediate challenge is twofold: calm the streets and design a workable online policy. Lifting the Nepal social media ban removed the spark for mass rallies, but the deeper issues—policing accountability, rules for online platforms, and how to balance safety with free expression—remain unresolved. A credible probe will set the tone. If investigators move quickly and publicly, it could prevent another wave of unrest and open space for a policy reset.

The world’s biggest platforms now face a choice: engage with Nepal on a registration plan that has clearer rules and due process, or gamble that the state won’t try another large-scale shutdown. Companies already registered, such as TikTok and Viber, will be watched closely for how they handle future takedown requests and data cooperation. If those cases look heavy-handed, it will be harder to bring the rest of the industry on board.

The economic stakes are high. Nepal’s small businesses lean on social platforms to reach customers cheaply, often replacing websites. Tour operators depend on Instagram and YouTube to showcase routes and reviews. Community sellers arrange deliveries in neighborhood WhatsApp groups. Interruptions—even short ones—can leave orders stranded, deposits delayed, and customer complaints unanswered. Many shop owners said they couldn’t even post updates to explain the outage, frustrating buyers who assumed they’d been ignored.

The political stakes are just as real. Young Nepalis, who grew up with cheap data and smartphones, see the internet as a civic space as much as a commercial one. They use it to organize, expose scams, and pressure officials. Shutting that down, even temporarily, feels to them like closing the town square. That explains the speed with which protests erupted and the language on the placards: a direct link between social media access and anticorruption demands.

What changed—and what comes next

Tuesday’s reversal came with several clear steps, and a long list of unknowns. The immediate actions:

• Blocks lifted on 26 platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, X, and YouTube.
• Indefinite curfew in Kathmandu and curfews in two other cities; schools closed.
• Home Affairs Minister resigned; the government announced a probe into the shootings.

Open questions now hang over the policy and the investigation:

• Will the probe be independent, with public hearings and a timeline, or managed within the interior ministry?
• How will authorities define and review “undesirable content,” and what appeal options will users and platforms get?
• Can the government pursue targeted enforcement—against harassment, hate, and scams—without sweeping bans?
• Will major platforms negotiate a tailored registration model with clearer data and takedown rules?

Any new framework will have to work in a country with limited regulatory capacity and heavy reliance on mobile networks. Simple, transparent procedures often deliver better results than broad mandates that are hard to enforce. That could mean clearer categories of online harm, faster complaint handling, and public reporting of government requests—steps that reassure both users and platforms.

For now, daily life is inching back online, even as the capital stays under curfew. Businesses are posting “we’re back” messages and rescheduling deliveries. Students are syncing notes they couldn’t access during the blackout. Families are checking on relatives without relying on phone trees. The pressure on hospitals remains intense, and there’s grief across neighborhoods that lost sons and daughters in a single day.

Nepal’s leaders promised to learn from the crisis. The test is whether policy changes follow. Clearer rules, a credible investigation, and tangible limits on the use of force would signal that the state heard the streets. Without them, the next attempt to police the internet will likely lead right back to the barricades.