In early September 2025, Nepal experienced a historic wave of youth-led protests after the government imposed a nationwide ban on social media platforms widely used by Generation Z for communication, news, and activism (Al Jazeera, 2025, September 8; TIME, 2025). What began as a digital rights movement rapidly escalated into nationwide unrest, with demonstrators—many students and young professionals—demanding not only the restoration of online freedoms but also government accountability, an end to corruption, and a rejection of political nepotism, as symbolized by the viral “Nepo Kids” campaign (The Indian Express, 2025, September 9; CNN, 2025, September 10). Clashes between protesters and security forces resulted in dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries, the breaching of parliament, the resignation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, and the imposition of a nationwide curfew enforced by the military (Reuters, 2025; The New York Times, 2025, September 10; NDTV, 2025, September 9). Despite the eventual lifting of the social media ban, the broader calls for systemic political change remain unresolved, leaving Nepal in a precarious transitional phase. This article reviews international and Nepali media coverage of these events, critically synthesizing how digital platforms facilitated rapid mobilization and information sharing among youth, while also examining the risks of state repression, the fragmentation of the protest movement, and the ongoing challenges of translating digital activism into durable institutional reform.
Jyoti Koirala (Thu,) studied this question.