THE STATE OF DIGITAL RIGHTS AND SAFETY IN NEPAL 2025

The year 2025 marked a critical juncture for digital governance in Nepal. Digital infrastructure, online public services, and emerging technologies expanded rapidly, embedding digital systems deeply into governance, the economy, and everyday life. At the same time, this expansion was accompanied by increasingly restrictive regulatory frameworks, surveillance-oriented policies, and growing pressures on freedom of expression, privacy, and civic space.

This report finds that Nepal’s digital transformation in 2025 was characterized by a widening gap between technological growth and rights protection. While the government advanced e-governance, digital identity systems, AI policy, and platform regulation, these initiatives were often pursued without adequate consultation, transparency, or human rights safeguards. Proposed and enacted laws on social media, cybersecurity, intelligence, and media regulation tilted toward control rather than accountability, leading to censorship, chilling effects on speech, and public resistance.

Social media regulation became the most visible flashpoint. The proposed Social Media Bill and enforcement of platform registration requirements culminated in nationwide platform bans, mass content removals, legal actions, and widespread protests. These measures disrupted communication, economic activity, and civic engagement, and raised serious concerns about proportionality, due process, and constitutional rights.

Freedom of expression and press freedom faced increasing constraints through a combination of legal action, platform moderation, judicial interventions, and informal pressures. Journalists, creators, and activists experienced takedowns, arrests, and intimidation, contributing to a chilling effect on dissent and public debate. Although courts provided some corrective rulings, judicial safeguards alone proved insufficient to counterbalance expanding executive power.

Misinformation, disinformation, and synthetic media emerged as major threats to social trust and stability, particularly during periods of political unrest. Weak state communication, low media literacy, and opaque platform moderation allowed false narratives and deepfakes to spread rapidly, amplifying polarization and undermining public confidence.

Privacy and data protection gained increased attention through court rulings and parliamentary debate, yet the absence of a comprehensive data protection law left citizens vulnerable to misuse of personal and biometric data, especially as digital identity systems and interoperability initiatives expanded.

Cybersecurity threats and cybercrime escalated sharply, exposing weak institutional preparedness, limited transparency in breach response, and growing risks to both public systems and individual users. Particularly alarming was the rise of transnational cybercrime and the trafficking of Nepali workers into forced online scam operations abroad.

Finally, audit reports and corruption cases revealed that Nepal’s digital crisis is rooted less in technological capacity than in governance failures including mismanagement, politicization of regulators, weak oversight, and lack of accountability.

Despite these challenges, 2025 also demonstrated strong civic resistance and engagement. Journalists, civil society, youth movements, and digital rights defenders mobilized to contest restrictive policies and demand more transparent, rights-based digital governance. Courts, though limited, played an important corrective role, and negotiated outcomes such as the December 2025 agreement on digital rights reflect the continuing contestation over Nepal’s digital future.

The report concludes that Nepal stands at a digital crossroads. Without a shift toward participatory lawmaking, strong data protection, independent oversight, and rights-centered governance, digital transformation risks deepening control, inequality, and mistrust. With the right reforms, however, it can become a foundation for inclusion, accountability, and democratic resilience.

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