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It reads like: citizens have been protesting the government using social media, government desperate to curb dissent bans social media, dissent is now on the streets..

Or maybe it's as straightforward as the media has been reporting.

2 days agoby netsharc

In the meantime, Russia erected a copy of the great Chinese firewall with DPI and everything - blocking YouTube, foreign news, most voice chat apps, most vpn traffic, and even actively dropping ssh connections when too much bidirectional sustained traffic is being detected.

2 days agoby bbminner

> The prime minister said the party is not against social media, “but what cannot be accepted is those doing business in Nepal, making money, and yet not complying with the law”.

I accept that there is corruption and manipulation by the government, but experience tells us also that these companies may be avoiding taxes towards zero.

2 days agoby beardyw

I'm afraid that website was hacked. It only redirects me to fraudulent raffles and casino stuff such as https://cdn.aucey.com/sweeps-survey/1034/es.html

2 days agoby estebarb

Every major global news outlet is portraying Nepal’s protest as being against a “social media ban.” That is misleading. Even most large local media houses are pushing the same narrative—which is not surprising, since many of them serve as PRs agents for political parties.

A bit about Nepal—the government here is run by a bunch of old farts. They are deeply corrupt and will do anything, legal or not, to protect their positions and continue embezzling the national budget. They lack accountability because they know they can/and have gotten away with anything. Example of a recent one [1]. Their children live lavishly, flexing their designer bags and watches, while the commoners struggle working tough jobs overseas just to survive.

They know that by controlling social media—as they already did with TikTok—they can censor any news about their corruption (which is a norm here) easily and keep the people in dark and in their favor. Now, they want Meta and Google to comply with their agenda and with the election coming, they need this bad!

This protest was never about a “social media ban.” It was against years and years of corruption, embezzlement and censorship. It was supposed to be peaceful. But politics here is a dirty game, and these veterans are seasoned pros. They hired goons to infiltrate the peaceful crowds, cause chaos and damage public property—a very old tactic here. That is how the demonstration spiraled out of control.

If you want to hear the voices of real people, look at r/Nepal and r/NepalSocial on Reddit.

And ask yourself—do you really think people are ready to risk their lives just for social media?

[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/NepalSocial/comments/1n9ra2q/hit_an...

2 days agoby rpac0

Many news articles have failed to mention that the social media ban in Nepal was a direct response to a viral "nepo-baby vs. regular youth" online campaign, which ultimately backfired.

https://www.timesnownews.com/viral/why-nepo-kid-campaign-is-...

The government framed the ban as a measure against "unregistered social media" platforms. However, major companies like Facebook and YouTube have been registered and paying taxes for years. These companies did not agree to the government's overly controlling bill, which had not even been passed into law. The K.P. Oli government attempted to bypass a public vote and enforce it as a directive, threatening non-compliant apps with bans.

https://www.law-democracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Nep...

2 days agoby zippo_the_zippo

They need the military to deal with the teenagers? I guess if all you have is a hammer…

2 days agoby Aeolun

I remember people here in a previous thread saying that the people supported the ban, well it doesn't seem like it's the case

2 days agoby kelvinjps10

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/18lJGrc5TSlsch...

Here's the drive link from the protest, recorded on camera.

2 days agoby topsykreet

Pretty sure this number will increase to lot more in coming days, terrible to see this state of a beautiful country.

2 days agoby allfornepal

Seems like a chapter out of the recent Sarah Wynn-Williams book

Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism Hardcover

https://www.amazon.com/Careless-People-Cautionary-Power-Idea...

2 days agoby haleem123

It is hard not to use social medias in this age, and the citizens have the right to fight for them, even if it resolves in their deaths.

As with pouring water, the world keeps spinning, and the strife goes on.

2 days agoby josfredo

Today is UNESCO's International Literacy Day, and this year's theme is digital literacy.

Quite ironic to choose this day to start trying to make an entire nation digitally illiterate.

2 days agoby jacknews

These governments that block social media or control/monitor the internet to avoid critics of government or dissent, whether that be Nepal, Tunisia, Turkey, UK, Germany, China, Egypt, US, Russia, Israel, are always shocked when there is an uprising. Unsurprisingly when a government tries to control people this closely many will see the flaws in it and make a stand and rightly so whether that be digitally or in person. It's understandable why so many tech knowledgeable dissidents create or use apps that bypass ridiculous laws.

2 days agoby ktallett

Nepal is an interesting nation.

Compared to nearby poor nations, Nepal is safe and its people are perceived to be welcoming. It's the only serious candidate for being a ski-nation in all of mainland Asia. If Nepal wanted, it could transform itself into a Bali style tourist destination and ascend towards being a middle economy. Unlike India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, which have to solve 1-billion-people scale problems, at 30 million, Nepal can resort to scaled down solutions.

Nepal's refusal to leverage the (few) advantages of its geography is baffling.

The internal politics are even more bizarre. As a communist-adjacent nation, it has a closed off economy with deep suspicion towards free markets. Yet, the national messaging alternates between blaming India or China for all their problems. The local populace (like every populace) eats this up. From my observations, neither nation affects Nepal's economics much. (national security is a separate conversation)

> protests reflect young people's widespread frustration with government action to tackle corruption and boost economic opportunities.

South Asia is coming off a recent protest->overthrow movement in Bangladesh. The youth protesters had similar complaints. Yet, the outcome was an even less democratic system which now owed favors to the violent parts of the society that helped complete the ouster. Similarly, Nepal has a history of political instability and violent ousters, most of which had led of very little economic change.

The youth's complaints are valid and I support their protests. However, do the protesters have an outcome in mind ? They want an improved economy. But, will they be okay with opening Nepal up to free markets ? This may mean selling resort building contracts to major western ski companies. It may mean opening unsafe sweatshops for Adidas to make shoes there. It may mean resource exploration by foreign mining companies.

I say this, because this is a South Asian disease. We want our nations to have a strong economy. But, economic liberalization can sometimes look like colonization, and this hurts the ego of proud global-south nations. We want progress, while keeping all foreign influence at bay. We want social welfare, but the nation is bankrupt. It's paradoxical. When our nations do move towards markets, it happens at gunpoint (1991) or with steep political costs (Farm Bill, GST) to the the incumbent.

Not sure what the solution is here. But, the last decade has made me suspicious towards protest movements that do not have positive policy outcomes in mind. The student's anger is valid, but impressionable students are the the time-honored vanguard used by more powerful opposition to trigger coups.

2 days agoby screye

I hope beautiful people of Nepal finally take down the corrupt scum that has been holding their country back for generations.

2 days agoby objektif

[flagged]

2 days agoby Fricken

Imagine dying because you can’t post on Facebook so you rioted and vandalized government buildings.

2 days agoby nemo44x

I wish my government would ban those attention traps too... Or perhaps less hyperbolicly, I wish people wouldn't use those platforms for their valuable free speech, and perhaps save their words for only the most valuable of utterances. But then they would all be here on HN. ;)

2 days agoby pwndByDeath

Negatives here we come: How can this post get to HN front-page and not any USAn turmoil, Gaza or Argentina libertarian downfall news?

2 days agoby n3storm

Oh, let me guess... The protests were organized by groups that get their funding from the NED or other Western sponsored NGOs ? (Asking for a friend)

2 days agoby happyweasel

What's missing in this discussion is the infiltration by agitating forces trying to muddy the waters. There are the regressive forces trying to bring back the monarchy which can't be good for anyone.

No kings.

2 days agoby mcny