The Instagram reel opens with a split screen that has become the most viral format in Nepal: on one side, a politician’s son poses with a $1,600 Louis Vuitton loafers. And on the other side, residents are shown crammed into slums, queuing for essentials, as they watch their earnings vanish in corruption scams.
Across Nepal’s digital landscape, content creators have turned social media into a platform to vent their anger, methodically documenting politicians’ children and their lavish lifestyles in contrast to the citizens who fund them. Harvard tuition fees worth over 10 million Nepalese rupees, Tory Burch handbags that cost more than most Nepalese earn in three months, and European vacations feature in these short videos.
These aren't lifestyle influencers; they're the children of Nepal's political elite, and their Instagram posts have become evidence in a court of public opinion that operates entirely through phone screens. Each luxury purchase, every designer outfit and five-star hotel check-in gets catalogued, screenshotted and stitched into viral content that rakes up millions of views and hundreds of thousands of likes.
This digital uprising has coincided with Nepal’s own political unraveling. As protests spiralled, leaving citizens dead, the Prime Minister and several ministers resigned.
On September 4, the Nepal government abruptly banned social media platforms including WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and X. The ban was a catalyst for the deep-seated anger against the authorities.
Within days, Kathmandu's streets overflowed with protesters. Tear gas, live rounds, and water cannons met school uniforms and hashtags. At least 19 demonstrators were killed before the government lifted the ban—but by then, the damage was done. The protests had already ignited long-simmering anger over corruption and inequality.
Although Nepal’s uprising has been branded a ‘Gen-Z protest’—referring to those aged 13 to 28 as of 2025—it reflects a broader regional pattern where anger over corruption and inequality has drawn in not only young people but entire societies, as seen in Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Amid the protests, a new form of political accountability has been created through social media content— one that bypasses traditional media and speaks directly to a generation raised on smartphones. The comment sections of these reels have become the place where anger finds its voice.
What Is Happening in Nepal?
September 2025 saw Nepal erupt in one of the most dramatic youth-led uprisings the country has seen in decades. The trigger was a government order banning 26 major social media platforms—including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and X—after they failed to register locally.
Officials defended the move as a regulatory measure, but for young Nepal citizens, it was the final straw in a long build-up of resentment over corruption, inequality, and elite privilege.
Behind the anger are long-festering scandals: the Lalita Niwas land grab, which saw prime property transferred to politicians and businessmen; the Giri Bandhu tea estate controversy, involving disputed land and political meddling; and a string of cooperative frauds, where ordinary depositors lost savings while leaders were accused of siphoning funds. These cases, paired with the flashy lifestyles of politicians’ children, have become the raw material for the digital protest.
Within days, Kathmandu’s Maitighar Mandala and other city squares were filled with thousands of protesters, many of them students. The demonstrations quickly escalated into violent confrontations with police and soldiers. Security forces used tear gas and live ammunition; protesters set fire to parts of parliament and even stormed the prime minister’s office.
In Nepal, the fury took a sharper shape: the viral “nepo babies” narrative which was earlier witnessed in the Philippines. Young protesters and meme-makers turned their attention to the lavish lifestyles of politicians’ children, contrasting them with the poverty of the taxpayers funding their education and vacations abroad. Ivy universities tuition receipts, high-end shoes, watches, bags—every symbol of excess was pulled into the frame.
What had been private indulgences are being weaponised as digital evidence of a broken system.
From Memes to Mobilisation
In today’s Nepal, the luxury of political heirs is being measured against the despair of taxpayers, reel by reel. Instagram, once a place for escapism, is now the country’s loudest mirror of inequality and corruption—and citizens are refusing to scroll past.
On Instagram, the tone shifted almost overnight. Pages that once traded in lighthearted memes and pop-culture jokes turned into outlets for political dissent. Reels stitched with hashtags like #Corruption, #Nepal, #StopMisuseOfPower, #RaiseVoice and #NepoBabies flooded timelines.
The visuals are stark: one reel contrasted “two Nepals”—politicians’ children in Louis Vuitton shoes set against citizens queuing for basic supplies—while ABBA’s “The Winner Takes It All” played in the background. It clearly struck a nerve, clocking nearly four million views and 260K likes, with comments ranging from solidarity to raw anger with comments like, “We will not shut our mouth. We will throw every corrupt politician from our country.”
Until last month, one such Instagram account – humourmeme.in was a standard meme page. But now every reel they post is political - collectively drawing over 12 million views. The pivot is mirrored on TikTok, which wasn’t banned because it had formally registered in Nepal, making it the main pipeline for content later reposted to Instagram.
And it’s not just the meme pages. Even lifestyle and entertainment accounts have changed their content theme. Pageant Empress, once dedicated to global beauty competitions, now trains its lens on political elites. One recurring figure is Shrinkhala Khatiwada—Miss Nepal World 2018 and the recipient of the ‘Beauty with a Purpose’ award. Beyond her pageant fame, Shrinkhala is also the daughter of senior politicians: her father, Birodh Khatiwada, is a long-serving MP, and her mother, Munu Sigdel Khatiwada, sits in the provincial assembly.
That pedigree, combined with her Ivy League education at Harvard and her carefully curated lifestyle, has made her a symbol of “nepo privilege” in Nepal’s online discourse.
The Instagram account, which has over 31,500 followers, recently posted a breakdown of her Harvard tuition—over 1 crore in Nepalese rupees (NPR) for two years—alongside an image of her carrying a Tory Burch bag worth 49K in NPR. The contrast was pointed: luxury and elite education on one side, economic struggle on the other. In the comments, users tagged Shrinkhala en masse, pressing her to speak out about corruption and inequality.
Shrinkhala pressed to speak on corruption
Others are even blunter. Bajeko Meme Company, whose bio still reads “follow us for hilarious and entertaining content”, has transformed its feed. Its display picture is a text that reads: “Hatyara Sarkar” (“Murderer Government”). In just a few days, it has churned out more than 100 reels—ranging from footage of police crackdowns to rallying calls for mass gatherings. The humour has been replaced by fury.
And then there are unlikely players like a page dedicated to the promotion of a cafe named The Gardens, located in Nepal’s Sanepa, which once only posted promos of its lattes and pastries. One reel now shows its staff—waiters, cooks, cleaners—under the caption: “Working day and night just to pay our taxes to fund corrupt politicians’ children’s next European vacation.”
Together, these pages form a patchwork of digital resistance. What began as borrowed TikTok clips and sarcastic memes has hardened into a new protest language on Instagram—one where everyday citizens, meme admins, and even cafés are united by a single theme: the corrupt elite versus everyone else.
In a country where political dynasties once seemed untouchable, the algorithm has given ordinary citizens a voice that refuses to be silenced, one viral reel at a time.
