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Title: From Discord To Bitchat, Tech At the Heart of Nepal Protests

Link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/09/12/2147...

An anonymous reader quotes a report from France24: Fueled in part by anger
over flashy lifestyles flaunted by elites, young anti-corruption
demonstrators mainly in their 20s rallied on Monday. The loose grouping,
largely viewed as members of "Gen Z", flooded the capital Kathmandu to demand
an end to a ban on Facebook, YouTube and other popular sites. The rallies
ended in chaos and tragedy, with at least 19 protesters killed in a police
crackdown on Monday. The apps were restored, but protests widened in anger.
On Tuesday, other Nepalis joined the crowds. Parliament was set ablaze, KP
Sharma Oli resigned as prime minister, and the army took charge of the
streets. Now, many activists are taking to the US group-chat app Discord to
talk over their next steps. One server with more than 145,000 members has
hosted feverish debate about who could be an interim leader, with many
pushing 73-year-old former chief justice Sushila Karki. It is just one
example of how social media has driven demands for change. [...] More than
half of Nepal's 30 million people are online, according to the World Bank.
Days before the protests, many had rushed to VPN services - or virtual
private networks - to evade blocks on platforms. Fears of a wider internet
shutdown also drove a surge in downloads for Bluetooth messaging app Bitchat,
created by tech billionaire Jack Dorsey. "Tech played... an almost decisive
role," journalist Pranaya Rana told AFP. "The whole thing started with young
people posting on social media about corruption, and the lavish lives that
the children of political leaders were leading." Hashtags such as #NepoKids,
short for nepotism, compared the designer clothing and luxury holidays shown
off in their Instagram posts to the difficulties faced by ordinary Nepalis.
One post liked 13,000 times accused politicians' children of "living like
millionaires," asking: "Where is the tax money going?" "NepoKids was trending
all the time," including in rural areas where Facebook is popular, said
rights activist Sanjib Chaudhary. "This fuelled the fire" of anger that "has
been growing for a long time," he said. [...] Chaudhary said the government
"seriously underestimated the power of social media." Nepal's first female
prime minister was sworn in Friday as interim leader after protesters held an
informal vote on Discord. "Former chief justice Sushila Karki, 73, was the
unlikely choice of the 'Gen Z' protesters behind the movement that started
out as a social media demonstration against the lavish lifestyles of 'Nepo
Kids' but spilled out onto the streets and into the deadliest social unrest
Nepal has seen in years," reports CNN World. "Karki has spent much of her
career within the very establishment the youth are protesting against, yet
her reputation as a fearless and incorruptible jurist has appealed to many
young people in the country of 30 million."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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