Nepal’s finance minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel chased, kicked and beaten

Kathmandu: The Gen Z-led protests are taking on an increasingly fierce tone in Nepal. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oil’s house was set on fire, his Finance Minister, Bishnu Prasad Paudel, was chased through Kathmandu streets, show videos.

Nepal’s crackdown on social media companies, which led to protests and police killing at least 19 people, is part of a yearslong decline of internet freedoms around the world as even democracies seek to curtail online speech.

The Himalayan country’s government said last week it was blocking several social media platforms including Facebook, X and YouTube because the companies failed to comply with a requirement that they register with the government. The ban was lifted Tuesday a day after the deadly protests.

What’s happening in Nepal mirrors “this broader pattern of controlling the narrative and controlling of stories emerging from the ground,” said Aditya Vashistha, an assistant professor of information science at Cornell University.

This has happened several times in the neighbouring countries Pakistan and Bangladesh, he said.

“So this is nothing new - in fact, I would say this is taken from the playbook, which is now very established, of trying to control social media narratives,” Vashistha said.

Like neighbouring countries, Nepal’s government have been asking the companies to appoint a liaison in the country.

Officials are calling for laws to to monitor social media and ensure both the users and operators are responsible and accountable for what they share. agencies

But the move has been criticised as a tool for censorship and punishing opponents who voice their protests online.