No diplomacy for Gen Z: How Nepalese youth uninstalled Oli's 'boomer' government over social media ban | OPINION

A recent research study published in the journal of Humanities and Social Science Studies found that Gen Z in South Asia use social media mostly for education, communication, and online shopping, in that order.

In fact, the study (Mathan and Kishore, 2024) revealed that these three factors formed more than 67 per cent—over two-thirds—of the primary motivators of social media use among Gen Z.

In education, access to study materials and teaching and demonstration videos ranked the highest, followed by collaborative group learning, better interaction among students, and networking opportunities. Crisis communication and group work ranked the most in the communication vertical.

In fact, if you take away online shopping (which also depends on local availability of deals), these youngsters use social media as a tool for learning and speaking to one another. In India, these two are fundamental rights. For Gen Z, social media is the platform on which they exercise this right.

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It is to this delicate space that a "boomer" Nepal government threw the hornet's nest. The result—in under 40 hours, Nepalese Prime Minister Sharma Oli had to quit after the protest triggered by the social media ban quickly evolved into a fight against corruption.

Like every seasoned politician, the leaders tried to put out "statements" and impose curfews. But there is no reasoning with 20-something year olds in large groups—something every person who has ever gone to a state university in the past three decades knows.

Yesterday, 19 citizens died in violent protests, and 100 others were injured. The police opened a volley of rubber bullets, water cannons, and tear gas on Gen Z protestors for trying to storm the parliament.

Today, the finance minister of Nepal was hunted down by an angry mob in the streets. The home minister has put down their papers. The protestors have taken over the seat of the government in Kathmandu. And PM Oli's exit pushed the country into political uncertainty.

And now, even a rap artist is being touted as the next leader of the country.

The demands of the young mob are reasonable. However, we are used to seeing everything through a Gandhian lens, and hence condemning the violence.

But once you look beyond it, they are nothing but hordes of youngsters fighting for their future—one that is free of corruption, and with access to the rest of the world through social media.

And the Oli government's legacy has quickly devolved into the one that fell 40 hours after banning Facebook and WhatsApp. 

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.