In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s violent protests in Nepal, photographs purporting to show the ritzy lifestyles enjoyed by the children of the country’s political elite were shared widely on social media.
They were tagged #nepokids, suggesting young people who had profited from their families’ connections, and they were condemned by many Nepalis as out-of-touch in a country where one in four live below the national poverty line.
“Thousands of such videos are trending across Nepal’s digital ecosystem,” said Raqib Naik, the executive director of the Center for the Study of Organized Hate, a watchdog group based in Washington that tracks extremism and misinformation online in South Asia and its diasporas.
The contrast “between elite privilege and everyday hardship struck a deep chord with Gen Z and quickly became a central narrative driving the movement,” he said.