More Than Social Media: What the Gen-Z Protest of Nepal Really Wants

Oct 12

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*Swarms of students unite in a peaceful protest, calling for an end to long-standing government corruption and impunity in Chitwan District, Nepal.*

On September 8, 2025, a sea of school uniforms overran Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu. The government’s attempt to ban twenty-six social media platforms on September 4th—including Instagram, WhatsApp, X, and YouTube—sparked one of the deadliest outbreaks of unrest the country has seen in years, resulting in at least 50 dead and over 1,000 wounded. Tens of thousands swarmed the streets, some in peaceful protest, others setting fire to Nepal's Parliament and Supreme Court. Reports soon emerged of police firing live rounds, tear gas, and water cannons at crowds of peaceful protesters–tactics that only deepened public outrage. Young people aged 13 to 25 are leading the charge, quickly dubbing the movement the “Gen-Z Protest.”

But what exactly is this generation demanding? Is their anger purely a response to social media restrictions? Seemingly not. This moment of unprecedented political turmoil in Nepal reflects something deeper: a greater movement against corruption, censorship, and elitism. The social media ban was merely the spark that lit a long-festering fire.

Weeks before the ban, Gen-Z had already been peacefully protesting Nepal’s entrenched nepotism and economic disparities. Slogans like “#NepoBaby” and “#NepoKids” went viral as politicians’ families flaunted their lavish lifestyles on TikTok and Instagram. Meanwhile, remittances—money sent home by Nepalis working abroad—compose over one-third of the country’s GDP, while domestic youth unemployment reached 20.8% in 2024. Struggling to find jobs or opportunities at home, many young Nepalis migrate abroad. For the 90% of Nepalis who use social media to stay in touch with family overseas, the ban felt like repression, not regulation.

The government’s actions fit a broader pattern. Over the past two decades, Nepali leaders have silenced dissent in the name of national security. In 2019, controversial bills, like the Information Technology Bill, threatened prison sentences and substantial fines for those who digitally express opinions deemed against “national interests.” Authorities have also misused cybercrime laws to target journalists, as seen in the June 2025 arrest warrant for Tough Talk host Dil Bhusan Pathak after he reported on alleged corruption involving a former prime minister’s son. Press freedom violations in Nepal have steadily increased over the past three years, with a recorded 73 cases between May 2024 and April 2025—up from 62 the previous year and 55 two years before. These precedents set the stage for Gen-Z’s anger, now boiling over as the latest battle in Nepal’s long struggle against state control and impunity.

When protesters gathered in front of Parliament in New Baneshwar, Kathmandu, their initial demands to lift the social media ban quickly expanded into calls for Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s resignation and for an independent watchdog to root out corruption. As unrest spread, arson and violence broke out, and though Gen-Z organizers condemned these acts as opportunists “hijacking” their movement, the government responded indiscriminately. Police fired rubber bullets and live rounds into crowds. Authorities’ willingness to open fire on demonstrators reveals both the administration’s disregard for the lives of its own citizens and their desperate effort to suppress criticism. Observers and protestors alike denounced the culture of impunity that allowed security forces to use deadly force without accountability. After two nights of fatal unrest, the capital lay in smoke, demonstrators were left dead, and Nepal’s political future remained uncertain.

Despite tremendous losses, the protests have scored clear victories: the government lifted the social media ban, and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli resigned on September 9. Three days later, former Chief Justice Sushila Karki was elected interim prime minister–ironically, through an informal vote on Discord, one of the very platforms the government had banned. However, while these victories matter, they fail to erase years of political disillusionment. Nepal’s Gen-Z is not fighting for screens, but for systemic change. Their movement represents the culmination of frustrations with long-standing government corruption, nepotism, censorship, and impunity. For now, Gen-Z protestors have agreed to meet with government officials and the army in hopes of peace, but not without a reworked list of demands that follow their pursuit of true democracy and accountability. Lives have already been lost, and the world is paying attention. The question is no longer whether Nepal’s youth will be heard, but whether its leaders are finally willing to listen.