Access Now is deeply alarmed by the government of Nepal’s violent crackdown on human rights, both online and off. On 4 September 2025, authorities ordered a sweeping ban on 26 social media platforms and messaging apps, including Facebook, X, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and YouTube. These platforms are essential for enabling people to exercise their fundamental rights. Although the ban has now been lifted, the damage is irreversible — human rights were violated, and tragically, people paid with their lives.
This was not an isolated act, but part of a pattern to curb fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression and access to information in the country. In November 2023, Nepal issued a nine-month blocking of TikTok, which was only lifted in August 2024. Only a few months earlier, authorities banned the Telegram app nationwide — a dangerous escalation of digital censorship that flagrantly undermined Nepal’s constitution as well as international human rights frameworks. The September order follows a recent directive, issued a week ago, demanding that all social media companies operating in Nepal register with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, as well as a dangerously over-broad, authoritarian social media bill currently pending in Parliament. These mark a dangerous escalation, shifting Nepal further down the path of digital repression.
The widespread ban triggered nationwide youth-led protests. Instead of engaging with people’s legitimate demands to safeguard their rights, the government unleashed violent repression. Multiple protesters were killed, and hundreds were left injured. The deliberate use of lethal force against people defending their rights to freedom of expression, access to information, and peaceful assembly is unacceptable and cannot be treated as business as usual.
What unfolded in Nepal demonstrates how digital repression and violent crackdowns are becoming entrenched tools of government control. Blanket bans and violent repression deepen fear, fuel unrest, and erode trust in democratic institutions.
Authorities must now reckon with the gravity of these human rights violations. Access Now calls for a full and independent investigation of the use of deadly force against protesters and any use of tools for digital repression against them. We demand accountability and justice for the families of those who lost loved ones, and for the many who suffered injuries at the hands of the state. At the same time, the decision to implement blanket bans on essential communication tools must be urgently re-examined. Any future regulatory approach must be subject to judicial oversight grounded in the principles of necessity and proportionality, and designed to safeguard fundamental rights.
Authorities in Nepal must avoid the path of becoming an authoritarian regime. As a democracy with an obligation to protect and respect human rights, it must quickly course-correct and commit to no further internet shutdowns or communication disruptions during periods of political unrest and beyond.