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Nepal protests: Social media ban lifted after 19 killed in protests
Nepal has lifted a social media ban, which sparked protests and led to clashes with police that left at least 19 people dead and injured more than 100 others.
In the weeks before the ban, a “nepo kid” campaign, spotlighting the lavish lifestyles of politicians’ children and allegations of corruption, had taken off on social media.
When the government moved to ban 26 social media platforms, including Facebook and YouTube, protests erupted with thousands of young people storming parliament in the capital Kathmandu on Monday. Several districts are now under a curfew.
A government minister said they lifted the ban after an emergency meeting late on Monday night to “address the demands of Gen Z”.
Last week, Nepal’s government ordered authorities to block 26 social media platforms for not complying with a deadline to register with Nepal’s ministry of communication and information technology.
Platforms such as Instagram and Facebook have millions of users in Nepal, who rely on them for entertainment, news and business.
But the government had justified its ban, implemented last week, in the name of tackling fake news, hate speech and online fraud.
Young people who took to the streets on Monday said they were also protesting against what they saw as the authoritarian attitude of the government. Many held placards with slogans including “enough is enough” and “end to corruption”.
Some protesters hurled stones at Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s house in his hometown Damak.
One protester, Sabana Budathoki had earlier told the BBC that the social media ban was “just the reason” they gathered.
“Rather than [the] social media ban, I think everyone’s focus is on corruption,” she explained, adding: “We want our country back. We came to stop corruption.”
ReutersOn Monday, police in Kathmandu had fired water cannons, batons and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters.
Prime Minister Oli said he was “deeply saddened” by the violence and casualty toll, and blamed the day’s events on “infiltration by various vested interest groups”.
The government would set up a panel to investigate the protests, he said, adding that it would also offer financial “relief” to the families of those who died and free treatment to those injured.
Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak submitted his resignation on Monday evening following intense criticism over his administration’s use of force during the protests.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday decided against activating the countercyclical capital buffer (CCyB), indicating that current financial and credit conditions do not warrant an additional capital requirement for banks, PTI reported.The central bank said the decision followed a review and empirical assessment of indicators used under the CCyB framework.“Based on review and empirical analysis of CCyB indicators, it has been decided that it is not necessary to activate CCyB at this point in time,” RBI said in a statement.Under the RBI (Commercial Banks – Prudential Norms on Capital Adequacy) Directions, 2025, the CCyB framework is activated when financial conditions indicate rising systemic risks linked to excessive credit growth.The framework primarily relies on the credit-to-GDP gap as a key indicator, along with supplementary metrics.According to the RBI, the CCyB mechanism is intended to serve two broad objectives.Firstly, it requires a bank to build up a buffer of capital in good times, which may be used to maintain the flow of credit to the real sector in difficult times.Secondly, it achieves the broader macro-prudential goal of restricting the banking sector from indiscriminate lending in the periods of excess credit growth that have often been associated with the building up of system-wide risk.The framework was introduced globally after the 2008 financial crisis as part of measures proposed by the Group of Central Bank Governors and Heads of Supervision (GHOS) under the Basel framework to strengthen financial system resilience.
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“Today’s policymaking is constrained by a more volatile external environment with more frequent and overlapping shocks, a rising public interest bill, in part reflecting market concerns with countries’ elevated debt, and the long-standing challenge of weak productivity growth,” he said.
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