The protests in Nepal by violent mobs christened the Gen Z agitation has left 19 of them dead but resulted in the ouster of the Oli government and a State of emergency.
It all started with the ban on social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, X and 23 other apps by the government of Nepal.
On August 28, the he government asked social media platforms to register with the telecom authority of Nepal under the Directive on Regulating the Use of Social Media, 2023, with a one-week deadline.
None of the major platforms paid heed to the directions, and on 4 September, the government decided to put an across-the-board ban on their operations in Nepal.
The protests started and following the deaths of 19 youngsters, the government revoked the ban but the unrest only intensified and spiralled out of control leading to the current situation.
But putting aside the other reasons for the chaos, why didn’t Facebook and other companies respond to the government’s directive in the first place? If they had an issue with the government, they could have taken it up with the proper channels and judiciary.
Instead, they just didn’t bother to respond to the authorities and went ahead with their operations. Are they not accountable to anyone?
Had they requested for an extension or taken up their grievances with the government, the ban probably wouldn’t have been enforced in the first place and all those lives wouldn’t have been lost.
Now as Nepal burns and Gen Zs start to dictate the future of the country, these apps are back in operation. After all, it’s business as usual for them!