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At least 19 people have been killed and dozens of others have been injured in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, on Monday as thousands of protesters, mostly youngsters, also known as Gen Z, took to the streets against a social media shutdown and government corruption. Last week, Nepal blocked 26 social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube, after they failed to comply with a government order mandating them to have a local contact, a grievance handler, and a person responsible for self-regulation and more.
The protests in Nepal have once again put the focus on how, in recent times, social media has become a tool enabling mass protests and even government changes.
The first revolution that was fuelled by social media was the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia in 2010-2011, which ended the 23-year rule of long-time dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. In December 2010, Tunisia saw widespread protests led by youngsters, over unemployment, inflation, corruption, a lack of political freedoms, and poor living conditions. On December 17, Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old street vendor, set himself on fire over alleged police harassment. The news of Bouazizi’s self-immolation spread like wildfire on social media, in particular on Facebook. The anger then boiled over to the streets, which were already seeing protests. Photos and videos of police brutality angered more and more Tunisians to take to the streets, and they used Facebook to further spread their message. The uprising led to the ousting of Ben Ali on 14 January 2011, when he resigned after fleeing to Saudi Arabia.
The Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia also inspired similar uprisings across the Middle East, known as the Arab Spring. Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, and Bahrain saw mass public protests inspired by the protests in Tunisia. The Arab Spring led to the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, and Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen. The most notable protests were in Egypt, which saw the first ‘Twitter revolution’ as hashtags and tweets were the biggest driving forces of the protests. The protests also popularised the usage ‘the revolution will be tweeted’, which was inspired by the Black Liberation song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.”
The 2013 Euromaidan Uprising in Ukraine is another major protest that was fueled by social media and brought about a major political change in the country. Euromaidan protests began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv against President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision not to sign the EU Association Agreement and instead choosing closer ties to Russia. The protests were held at Independence Square in Kyiv, where the demonstrators and police clashed regularly. In February 2014, the protests turned deadly after police opened fire on protesters marching towards the Parliament, resulting in the deaths of almost 100 protesters and 13 police. On February 21, Yanukovych and key members of his government fled to Russia, and a day later, he was officially removed as President.
The 2019 Lebanese revolution, also known as the WhatsApp revolution, is yet another in which social media played a key role. These protests were triggered by planned taxes on gasoline, tobacco, and VoIP calls on applications such as WhatsApp. The protests resulted in Saad Al-Hariri resigning as Prime Minister on October 29, but failed to bring about any meaningful political change in Lebanon.
In 2022, Sri Lanka witnessed massive protests fuelled by the country’s growing economic crisis. The protesters’ main demand was the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and members of the Rajapaksa family. The hashtag #GoHomeGota was the rallying cry on social media, and in July, thousands of protesters marched to the Presidential palace, forcing Rajapaksa to flee. Videos of protesters celebrating in the luxurious Presidential palace soon went viral on social media.
A protest against the quota reforms led to one of the biggest public protests in the history of Bangladesh in 2024. The protests, which began in July, escalated after a violent crackdown by the Sheikh Hasina government, which led the the death of several protesters. It eventually led to the resignation of Hasina on August 5.
Social media also played a key role in the ongoing protests in Indonesia. The protests in Jakarta were triggered by a proposed rise in MP allowances as ordinary Indonesians struggle with high living costs and youth unemployment rates. During the protests, several high-profile politicians had their houses looted, and visuals of their luxurious lifestyles have gone viral on social media, causing even more resentment.
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