Nepal lifts the ban on social media after protests in which the police killed 19 people: NPR

Riot Police uses a water cannon on protesters outside the parliament in Kathmandu, Nepal, Monday 8 September 2025.

Niranjan Shrestha/AP

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Niranjan Shrestha/AP

Kathmandu, Nepal – The government of Nepal lifted its ban on social media platforms on Tuesday a day after the police killed fire on Mass Street protests against the ban, killing 19 people.

The district administration ordered an indefinite evening clock in the capital and schools were closed. A curfew was also imposed in two other cities.

Various commonly used social networks, including Facebook, X and YouTube, were blocked last week in the Himalayas -Nation after they do not comply with a new requirement to register and submit to government supervision.

Rallies against the prohibition swallowed to tens of thousands of people in Kathmandu and crowds surrounded the parliament building before the police opened fire on the demonstrators.

“Stop the ban on social media. Stop corruption, not on social media,” the crowd sang, waving with national flags. Monday’s rally was called the protest of Gen Z, which generally refers to people born between 1995 and 2010.

Seven of the dead and dozens wounded were received in the National Trauma Center, the most important hospital in the country.

“Many of them are in a serious state and seem to have been shot in the head and chest,” said Dr. Badri Risa. Families waited for news about their family members while people stood in line to donate blood.

Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli said in a statement that he formed a committee of inquiry to submit a report in 15 days and that a fee would be given for the lost lives and free treatment for the injured.

Minister of the Interior Ramesh Lekhak also resigned at a cabinet meeting at the end of Monday at the end of Monday.

The violence unfolded when the Nepal government strives for a broader attempt to regulate social media with a bill aimed at the fact that the platforms are ‘correctly managed, responsible and responsible’. The proposal is widely criticized as a tool for censorship and for punishing opponents of the government who express their protests online.

The registration requirement applies to approximately two dozen social networks that are widely used in Nepal.

Neither Google, who owns YouTube, nor Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, responded to requests for comments from the Associated Press. The X platform of Elon Musk did not respond either.

The video-sharing app Tiktok, Viber and three other platforms have registered and operated without interruption.

The bill includes asking the companies to appoint a connecting office or a contact point in the country. Rights groups have mentioned an attempt by the government to curb freedom of expression and fundamental rights.

Nepal in 2023 forbidden Tiktok for disturbing “social harmony, goodwill and diffuse indecent materials.” The prohibition was lifted last year after the managers of Tiktok promised to meet the local laws, including a ban on pornographic sites that was adopted in 2018.