A Revolution in Nepal? Social media ban festers protests and kaos.

Sounds similar to what's going on in the UK. People being arrested over social media posts.

It's not similar really. Nepal chose to ban the likes of Facebook, and that's not going on in the UK.

Nepal is more like China, Russia, and North Korea. That is, total control over what people can and cannot see.
 
NYT - "After reacting with force to pitched protests on Monday, a day of clashes that killed at least 19 people, Nepal’s government retreated from its ban on some of the world’s biggest social media platforms, which had helped to set off the unrest.

By Tuesday morning, all 26 of the platforms that the government blocked last week, including Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and WeChat, were back online. But protesters were back on the street despite a curfew, demanding that government officials be punished and replaced.

The protests, which were fueled by anger over corruption and a weak economy as well as the social media ban, have been the most widespread in Nepal’s recent history. The security forces’ violent response has only added to the pressure on the government. Opposition parties and some members of the governing coalition had called for Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli to resign.

In the capital, Kathmandu, protesters surged toward the Parliament complex on Monday, occupying a security post before being dispersed by the police, according to witnesses. It was not immediately clear how those who died were killed, or how hundreds of others were wounded, but the witnesses said the authorities had used live ammunition against the crowd, in addition to rubber bullets and water cannons."
 
NYT - "After reacting with force to pitched protests on Monday, a day of clashes that killed at least 19 people, Nepal’s government retreated from its ban on some of the world’s biggest social media platforms, which had helped to set off the unrest.

By Tuesday morning, all 26 of the platforms that the government blocked last week, including Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and WeChat, were back online. But protesters were back on the street despite a curfew, demanding that government officials be punished and replaced.

The protests, which were fueled by anger over corruption and a weak economy as well as the social media ban, have been the most widespread in Nepal’s recent history. The security forces’ violent response has only added to the pressure on the government. Opposition parties and some members of the governing coalition had called for Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli to resign.

In the capital, Kathmandu, protesters surged toward the Parliament complex on Monday, occupying a security post before being dispersed by the police, according to witnesses. It was not immediately clear how those who died were killed, or how hundreds of others were wounded, but the witnesses said the authorities had used live ammunition against the crowd, in addition to rubber bullets and water cannons."
I think this reaction to Nepal blocking all social media, is very telling. Once the people were cut off from engaging in life by interacting with real time people through a screen, all over the world, they lost it. They hit the streets to bring at least this one thing they can find some fulfillment, to get their government to unblock these lifelines. They did. This is the new world. It is running because we are all involved in social media. :)
 
Lesson learned...do NOT mess with Gen Z and their phones!
That was my first thought, too! I've often looked at them, lost in their little pieces of plastic, and thought how good it would be for them to have it all go down for a few weeks so they would have to look up and rest their thumbs. But maybe not. Maybe it's too late.

I think this reaction to Nepal blocking all social media, is very telling. Once the people were cut off from engaging in life by interacting with real time people through a screen, all over the world, they lost it. They hit the streets to bring at least this one thing they can find some fulfillment, to get their government to unblock these lifelines. They did. This is the new world. It is running because we are all involved in social media. :)


I'm not usually a doomsayer but this week, with it's mass uprising of intense hatred toward a woman who lost her temper and acted ugly at a ballgame, the targeted murder of a famous radio personality, the firing of a news anchor for saying something critical about the radio personality, (both people I'd never heard of until yesterday) and me falling for an AI video on YouTube. I feel like I've lost track of reality.

YouTube has lost it's mind. I spent a lot of time there yesterday, following those issues, and there should be a new stronger word for "divisive,' because it is well over the top now. For the first time ever I started to make a comment and then lost my nerve, afraid someone would track me down.
 


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