Thousands of young Nepalis have taken to the streets to protest their government over a ban on social media platforms. The protests have garnered national attention as Prime Minister Sharma Oli resigned, and the Nepali parliament was set on fire.
Rudabeh Shahid, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center, told Newsweek the protests are a “generational reckoning against a culture of political impunity in the South Asian region as a whole.”
Why It Matters
Nepal, the Himalayan nation that borders both China and India and is home to 30 million people, has faced years of political upheaval. While the protests directly follow the ban on social media, protesters say years of government corruption and failure to provide young people with economic opportunities are at the heart of the unrest.
At least 22 people have died and hundreds of others have been injured in the unrest.
Social Media Ban Fuels Protests
The protests began immediately after the government blocked popular social media platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp, and X. Officials stated that the bans were justified because the companies had not met the requirements to register with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, which has sought to enforce a new law regulating social media.
The ban was viewed by protesters as a form of censorship that infringed upon their rights to freedom of speech and expression. It is also noteworthy because millions of Nepalis work abroad. The ban would make it more challenging for them to keep in touch with family at home.
The government has reversed the social media ban, but protests in the capital city of Kathmandu continued on Tuesday amid ongoing concerns about corruption, despite a government-issued curfew.
Dramatic video and photo footage of the protests has spread across social media.
Some protesters have called for the government to be completely overthrown.
“We now have more of a duty to live up to the expectations of our friends who were murdered by the state. We need to topple this government, we demand mass resignation and we want them out. This is our country,” protest organizer Anil Baniya told Al Jazeera.
Why Gen Z Is Protesting in Nepal
Shahid said that while the social media ban is the direct cause of the protests, there are deeper root causes.
“The deeper causes go back years,” Shahid said. “Persistent corruption, nepotism, and political instability. Since abolishing the monarchy in 2008, Nepal has had 14 governments, with none completing a full term.”
Young people, many of whom leave the country each year to work, feel “shut out of opportunities,” Shahid said. This is exacerbated by a social media trend of “Nepo Kids,” children of politicians, who flaunt wealth and privilege on social media.
“These are young Nepalis who grew up using social media, who compare their country’s trajectory with peers abroad, and who are no longer willing to tolerate corruption as ‘normal.’ They are also the generation most affected by the social media ban: those platforms are their classrooms, workplaces, and community spaces,” Shahid said.
According to the Nepal Economic Forum, approximately 7.5 percent of the country’s population lives and works abroad, totaling more than two million people. Many of these people send money to their families back home.
Back at home, young people face economic challenges. Twenty percent of Nepalis between the ages of 15 and 24 years old are unemployed, compared to 8.2 percent of the general population, according to the World Bank.
Richard Bownas, professor of political science and international affairs at the University of Northern Colorado, told Newsweek that Gen Zers are leading these protests because of their “general despair about the future.”
“The ‘deeper’ cause is what I have termed the ‘particization’ of society in Nepal, the way in which the big 3 political parties (Congress, UML, Maoists) have become de facto mafias, seemingly more concerned with rent-seeking from control of key sectors such as schools, labor agencies, hospitals, the tourist industry, business houses, the construction industry, etc., than in serving their constituents,” Bownas said.
How Gen Z Protests Differ From Prior Demonstrations
There is a history of protests in Nepal, including the 1990 pro-democracy movement and the 2006 protests that led to the end of the monarchy.
But these protests are different in that they are “leaderless, decentralized, and overwhelmingly youth-driven,” Shahid said.
“They echo the energy of past movements but are less about ideology and more about demanding accountability, transparency, and dignity,” she said.
Bownas said the earlier protests were “against a monarch or the monarchy as an institution.”
“This is unusual from a global perspective also, because the protests are against political parties and no one is suggesting Nepal’s elections were not relatively ‘free and fair.’ That is a worrying development,” he said.
Protests Turned Violent
The protests have drawn scrutiny from international human rights organizations, which have raised concerns over protesters being killed. The group Human Rights Watch wrote in a statement that police have used “lethal force” to suppress the protests and called for Nepali authorities to investigate the use of police force.
Reuters reported that police used water cannons, batons, rubber bullets and tear gas against protesters.
Oli resigned on Tuesday. Per Reuters, he wrote the following in his resignation letter: “In view of the adverse situation in the country, I have resigned effective today to facilitate the solution to the problem and to help resolve it politically in accordance with the constitution.”
The violence continued as protesters stormed the parliament building, setting it on fire. Former Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his wife, Arzu Rana Deuba, were also attacked at their home. Arzu Rana Deuba was killed during the attack.
What People Are Saying
Rudabeh Shahid, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center, told Newsweek: “What is unfolding in Nepal is far more than a protest against social media censorship or a single prime minister’s regime—it’s a generational reckoning against a culture of political impunity in the South Asian region as a whole. The movement’s leaderless, decentralized nature, as well as the mass participation by the youth, makes it both powerful and unwieldy. While that makes it harder for the state to suppress, it also complicates how political negotiations can proceed meaningfully.
“In the last 24 hours, we have seen a critical shift: Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli resigned, signaling that the movement was effective. Yet, the turmoil has not ended. The Nepal Army has taken charge of national security, stepping into a leadership vacuum to restore order amidst widespread unrest following the protests, which left dozens dead and caused government buildings to go up in flames.”
Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement: “The police shooting of demonstrators in Kathmandu and across Nepal shows the administration’s appalling disregard for the lives of its own citizens and desperate need to suppress criticism.”
The U.N. Human Rights Office said on Monday: “We have received several deeply worrying allegations of unnecessary or disproportionate use of force by security forces during protests organized by youth groups demonstrating against corruption and the recent government ban on social media platforms. We call on the authorities to respect and ensure the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.”
What Happens Next
Shahid outlined three potential trajectories. Oli’s resignation and the end of the ban could allow things to quieten, but discontent would continue without corruption reforms. The protests could also lead to genuine reforms, such as anti-corruption mechanisms, early elections, or increased youth representation in politics.
However, if a new government “doubles down on repression” or if inquiries into police violence are viewed as “cosmetic,” protests could continue, she said.
“The memory of dozens of young people killed is unlikely to fade quickly,” she said.
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