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Tensions between governments and social media platforms are on the rise around the world. States are pushing for regulation to combat disinformation, curb hate speech, safeguard national security, protect minors and assert sovereignty over digital space. Tech companies, however, long accustomed to operating globally with minimal state oversight, are often reluctant to comply with country-specific rules.

Increasingly, governments are requiring local registration or licensing as a condition to operate.

While some platforms accept these demands, many resist, particularly in smaller and less influential countries that lack the leverage to enforce compliance. Nepal offers a telling example of this ongoing battle. Over the past few years, the government has attempted to regulate major platforms, though critics fear such moves could also restrict freedom of speech and expression.

On August 28, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology issued a seven-day deadline for all social media companies—domestic and international—to register locally or face progressive deactivation. While platforms like Viber, TikTok, Global View, We Talk and Nimbuzz have complied, most major players like X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit, Snapchat and WeChat continue to operate without registration. Telegram, under pressure, has begun the process.

The requirement is not just about paperwork. Registered platforms must designate a local point of contact, a grievance officer and a compliance officer, effectively obliging them to establish a physical presence in Nepal. The policy reflects growing public concern over disinformation, hate speech and illegal content that many believe threaten social harmony.

However, enforcement of this policy is challenging. With millions of Nepalis relying on these platforms for communication, business and entertainment, abrupt bans could spark public outrage. The 2023 TikTok ban, lifted only after months of negotiation, demonstrated both the limits of state power and the possibilities of enforcement. TikTok’s eventual re-registration showed that, with sufficient pressure, even global giants can be brought to the table if they see enough value in the local market.

Nepal is not alone in this regulatory push. In 2024, Malaysia introduced licensing requirements for platforms with over eight million users. While some platforms complied, others like Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, and Google’s YouTube, are still negotiating. The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) is often held up as a global benchmark. It rebalances the responsibilities between users, platforms and public authorities, and the protection of fundamental rights. Nepal could draw lessons from the DSA, particularly in ensuring that regulations are not solely punitive, but also protective of democratic values.

Another growing area of concern worldwide is the protection of minors. In 2025, Australia became the first country to impose a mandatory minimum age of 16 for most social media platforms through its Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill. Non-compliance to this legislation carries heavy fines. Nepal, which is seeing increasing reports of online harms affecting children, should consider similar protective legislation.

One of the thorniest issues in social media governance is content moderation. Although tech companies have deployed large moderation teams and AI-driven tools, governments see these efforts as inadequate, especially when it comes to locally sensitive content or criticism of state policies. But beneath this lies a deeper tension: while governments claim to be fighting disinformation, they may also use regulation to suppress dissent and limit freedom of expression. In countries such as Turkey, Pakistan, India and Indonesia, social media rules have often been doubled as tools of political censorship. The same risk exists in Nepal too. Regulation is necessary, but it must not be weaponized to silence critics or undermine the press. A strong legal framework should guarantee that posts from independent or mainstream media are protected, and that takedown requests are transparent and subject to oversight. In the neighboring countries, the Indian government has taken a slew of measures in order to regulate social media platforms.

Another pressing issue is privacy. Social media companies collect vast amounts of personal data, raising concerns about misuse, surveillance and inadequate safeguards for users. Addressing these challenges requires more than registration requirements alone. As Nepal finalizes its Social Media Bill, it should adopt a multi-stakeholder governance model, bringing together not only government agencies, but also platforms, civil society, journalists, academia and international partners.

Open dialogue with major platforms can help align expectations, clarify provisions and ensure mutual accountability. Beyond that, sector-specific laws, robust data protection frameworks and digital literacy campaigns are essential. Regional cooperation, particularly among global south countries facing similar challenges, could amplify Nepal’s voice and build a stronger front for fair regulation.

So far, Nepal’s approach has leaned too heavily on government control. For regulation to be effective and democratic, the country must shift from a control mindset to a governance mindset—one that balances accountability with protection of rights. The relationship between states and social media companies is at a critical juncture. For Nepal, this is an opportunity to craft a regulatory framework that tackles online harms without undermining digital freedoms. A thoughtful, inclusive and globally informed approach could allow Nepal to emerge as a leader in social media governance rather than just another regulatory battleground.

Ultimately, the challenge lies in striking a balance between free speech, content moderation and privacy. Constant dialogue between the government and platforms is essential, given that tech companies operate globally but also be held accountable locally. Another hurdle is the aggressive lobbying that media platforms extensively engage in against regulatory efforts—a trend already visible in Nepal.

Stronger rules inevitably affect the business interests of social media companies, and resistance is fierce. Global experience shows that states face significant pushback whenever they attempt to rein in tech giants. Nepal must navigate this pushback carefully, ensuring its regulatory ambitions protect citizens without stifling democratic values. In conclusion, regulation of social media is still an evolving concept  in many countries and there is no one-size-fits-all model; the only way is to closely follow the steps taken by other countries, and learn from each other. Nepal should also closely follow the attempts being made for global governance.

A human trafficking racket involved in taking Nepalis to India and selling their kidneys has been exposed. Police have arrested the ringleader, Shyam Krishna Bhandari, along with his associate Sujan Bharati. According to the Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau, the gang had lured people from districts including Sindhupalchok, Kavre, Sindhuli, Nuwakot and Dhading with various promises before transporting them to India for organ trade.

The arrests were made at the Kanchanpur and Birgunj border points while the suspects were entering Nepal from India. The Bureau has registered four cases against the group, based on complaints from five victims. The investigation, launched under the operation code-named Life Field, revealed that the gang arranged transportation to New Delhi for those willing to sell their kidneys. Earlier, three other individuals linked to the group were arrested on Aug 5.

Police continued their probe based on victim testimonies and statements from the detained suspects. During interrogation, Bhandari confessed that the victims were kept at a hotel in Kasturba Niketan, Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi, where doctors were brought in for blood tests and medical examinations. He admitted that victims were sedated, blindfolded and kept in hospitals for three to four days before sending them back to Nepal.

Bhandari also told police that he lured individuals by promising InRs 600,000 for a kidney. However, one victim reported receiving only InRs 5,000. He further confessed to facilitating the removal of kidneys from at least 25 people, though investigators believe the network has trafficked kidneys from over 100 individuals.

Police say further investigation is underway.

Though geographically the largest of 77 districts in Nepal, Dolpa is one of its most remote and inaccessible due to its mountainous and hilly terrain. According to the Dolpa District Administration Office, only 0.31 percent of the total area is arable land, and just nine percent of that cultivated land has irrigation facilities. During winter, the entire landscape is blanketed in snow, making agriculture unproductive. The district can only produce enough grain to last for about five months, forcing residents to depend on rice brought in from other districts.

While Dolpa lags behind other districts in every human development index, it is ahead in one aspect: its abundant and valuable medicinal herbs. The Dolpa Division Forest Office reports that the highly-prized yarsagumba, which sells for millions of rupees per kilogram, is found in greater quantities in Dolpa than in any other district in Nepal.

Bishnu Bahadur Rokaya from Lahara village of Thuli Bheri Municipality-3, earned up to Rs 3.2m from a single kilogram of yarsagumba last year. While the value of yarsagumba has been increasing annually, its production and collection have been declining.

Chhiring Lama, a local collector, says until a few years ago, a person could collect an average of 200 yarsas. Now, it’s difficult to find even 40 or 50. The usual collection season is May and June, but climate change has made the weather unpredictable. 

“Sometimes it snows so much it buries people; and other times the snow melts before people can even get there. When the season starts, collectors who arrive early pick the young sprouts, which is also a problem,” says Lama.

According to the  Karnali Province Forest Directorate, the quantity of yarsagumba found in the meadows of Karnali’s Humla, Jumla, Kalikot, Mugu, Dolpa, and Western Rukum districts has decreased, along with the revenue collected from it.

In the fiscal year 2022/23, the directorate collected Rs 12.74m in revenue from 411 kg of exported yarsagumba. The following fiscal year, this amount plummeted to Rs 5.94m with just 191 kg yarsagumba exported.

Data from previous years also show a gradual decrease: 306 kg in 2017/18, 301 kg in 2018/19, and just 291 kg in 2019/20 were exported from the five yarsagumba-producing districts of Karnali.

This decline was flagged by the Nepal Rastra Bank almost a decade ago. A 2015 survey on the impact of yarsagumba on the Nepali economy raised concerns about improper waste management at collection sites. The survey concluded that activities like indiscriminate logging, setting fires, and scattered waste from pack animals in yarsagumba habitats were having an adverse effect on the environment. 

The presence of thousands of collectors who camp for weeks or even months negatively impacts the forest and national park environment. The survey also found that deforestation for temporary shelters and firewood, along with the clearing of ‘sunbuki’ grass (the main food source for the yarsagumba-producing larva), was contributing to the problem.

Disappearing indigenous crops

Climate change isn’t just threatening the valuable biological commodity like yarsagumba; It’s also causing the gradual disappearance of traditional indigenous crops cultivated in Upper Karnali. The production of nutritious, natural, and organic indigenous crops like chino, kaguno, millet, buckwheat, barley, latte, Marshe rice, local beans, and wheat has been steadily declining.

Krishna Jaisi, a farmer from Rodikot, Sarkegad Rural Municipality-7, Humla, vividly remembers when he would sell a few quintals of Marshe rice from his 3-bigha field in Surkhet. The nutrient-rich Marshe rice would last his family for a year, and selling the surplus helped support his household.

Today, Karnali’s agriculture, which traditionally relies on rainfall, is being devastated by drought, intermittent rainfall, and excessive rain. In addition, the increased growth of weeds and pests due to seasonal changes has become another major problem. The Agricultural Research Center in Dashrathpur, Surkhet, reports that indigenous crops are at risk due to changing weather patterns and an increase in various diseases and pests.

The directorate is currently testing over 200 different climate-resilient food crop varieties suitable for the soil in various Karnali districts. According to the center’s director, Devanidhi Tiwari, they are testing 37 new varieties of paddy, millet, maize, wheat, mustard, buckwheat, peanuts, and soybeans.

Bharat Budhathapa, a farmer from Jumla, says that since farming depends on traditional methods and rainfall, there’s no telling when excessive rain will destroy the crops or when a lack of rain will kill the seeds. He had started an apple farm with 4,000 saplings across 17,000 square meters, but on May 8 and 9, a two-day hailstorm destroyed his crops, causing an estimated loss of Rs 1.5m.

“As a commercial farmer, there’s no certainty for any crop, not just traditional rice,” he says. “Sometimes there’s no rain when you need it, and other times it pours day and night, making things miserable.”

No solutions, no plans

While climate change continues to destroy Karnali’s indigenous crops, the Karnali Provincial Government has created a special logo called ‘Mulyawan’ (Valuable) to brand and promote their value and significance. The province has officially listed chino, kaguno, barley, latte (marshe), buckwheat, Jumli Marshe, millet, and local beans as indigenous crops.

However, the province has no concrete plans, strategies, or budget to protect the native seeds in a climate-adaptive way. The first meeting of the Karnali Provincial Government’s Council of Ministers on 18 Feb 2017 decided to lay the foundation for organic agriculture and conserve indigenous crops, aiming to make Karnali an ‘Organic Province’. Based on this decision, the provincial government introduced the Organic Agriculture Act, 2018.

Despite this, the province has not created any specific climate-adaptive programs to make all its produce organic. According to Tara Baral, a ministry information officer, projects for the protection and promotion of organic and indigenous agriculture and livestock are conducted annually, but there are no plans or budgets specifically addressing climate change. However, he claims that the issue and problem of climate change are automatically addressed when focusing on organic and indigenous crop conservation.

Impact of climate change

According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Nepal's high Himalayan and high hill regions are experiencing changes not only in temperature but also in rainfall patterns. A 2017 report from the department indicates that rainfall in the high Himalayan region is decreasing at a rate of 1.46 millimeters per year. The high hill region is experiencing an even greater decline, with a drop of 3.17 millimeters per year. Department spokesperson Bibhuti Pokharel states that rainfall in the Himalayan districts is fluctuating.

Rasuwa district, for example, is seeing a decrease in the number of rainy days, dropping by 0.9 to 1.18 days per year. This suggests a decline of about 12 rainy days in a decade. Similarly, rain-shadow districts like Manang and Mustang are also experiencing fewer rainy days, with declines of 0.1 and 0.2 days per year, respectively. In contrast, rainy days are increasing in Mugu and Humla, with a rise of 0.9 and 1.0 days per year, respectively.

Continuous dry spells are also fluctuating in these districts. They are increasing in Rasuwa, Manang, and Mustang by 1.6, 0.3, and 0.3 days per year, respectively. However, according to meteorologist Sudarshan Humagain from the department’s Climate Analysis Branch, continuous dry days are decreasing by one day per year in Humla.

Rising temperatures and disaster risks

The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology reports that temperatures are rising in the Himalayan region. Maximum temperatures in the high Himalayas are increasing by 0.086 degrees Celsius per year. Temperatures in the high hills are also rising at the same rate. Department spokesperson Pokharel says with temperatures rising, small glacial lakes are beginning to burst. There is a risk of more explosions if the trend continues.

In the high Himalayan region, the winter temperature increase rate is 0.101 degrees Celsius. Meteorologists warn if this rate continues, the temperature will rise by 1 degree Celsius in a decade during winter. The temperature rise rate in the high hills during winter is 0.070 degrees Celsius. Rising temperatures in both the high Himalayan and high hill regions will ultimately affect all parts of the country.

Meanwhile, melting glaciers are also disrupting the climate cycle. With Nepal’s economy tied to the Himalayas, the negative effects of climate change are causing hills to become barren. The increased melting of snow due to rising temperatures is forming new glacial lakes, and the risk of them bursting is increasing.

According to Basant Raj Adhikari, director at the Disaster Studies Center at the Institute of Engineering, the frequency of glacial lake bursts is increasing. “While large glacial lakes like the Tsho Rolpa are being monitored due to the risk of explosion, smaller ones are being neglected,” he says.

Adhikari explains that glacial lakes can be monitored using satellite imagery and additional equipment to give early warnings to at-risk communities. 

Hindu Kush Himalayas: An abnormal climate

According to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), temperatures in all eight countries of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region are expected to be above normal in 2025, with an increase of 0.5 to 2 degrees Celsius above the long-term average. Global and national weather forecasts had also predicted that much of South Asia would experience above-normal rainfall during the 2025 summer monsoon, with more rain expected in the Tibetan Plateau of China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, while Afghanistan and Myanmar were expected to receive less.

ICIMOD estimates that this summer monsoon, temperatures across the entire HKH region could be up to 2 degrees Celsius above average. Floods have been the primary cause of death and economic damage in the region, with nearly three-quarters (72.5 percent) of floods between 1980 and 2024 occurring during the summer monsoon.

Meanwhile, the snow-covered area in the HKH has dropped to its lowest level in 23 years, at 23.6 percent below normal, creating a further water security crisis across South Asia. These impacts pose a serious threat to rivers, hydropower projects, agriculture, and the safety of Himalayan communities.

India is also experiencing an abnormal climate within the HKH region. This year’s monsoon alone was expected to have temperatures up to 2 degrees Celsius above average. Rainfall has also been irregular. India has experienced its highest monsoon rainfall since 2013, with a 21 percent increase above normal. Some northern Indian states saw more than a 1,200 percent increase in rainfall over a short period. According to ICIMOD, this has led to flash floods, cloudbursts with more than 100 millimeters of rain per hour, and landslides, which have killed hundreds of people and damaged critical infrastructure.

Nepal’s need for cooperation with HKH countries

ICIMOD’s April forecast report on snow in the HKH region predicts a lower-than-normal snow cover in 2025 for the third consecutive year. The HKH region is a biodiverse and culturally rich mountainous area spanning eight countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.

This region is facing various crises from climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, as well as rapid socio-economic changes. These are having a severe impact on ecosystems, natural resources, livelihoods, and human lives.

Geologist Adhikari states that the HKH region has seen significant changes from previous years to the present. He points to the recent floods in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and India’s Dhareli, along with negative impacts in Bhutan and Myanmar. With a large population and agriculture as the main profession in the HKH region, the increased rate of snowmelt is raising concerns about a lack of naturally available water.

Recalling the flood in Kerung, Rasuwa, he emphasizes the need for international cooperation in studying and researching cross-border disasters. “The upstream countries must share information with the downstream countries during a disaster,” he says.

The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology states that while there is some coordination related to weather systems, there is very little research in this region. Spokesperson Pokharel says, “The HKH nations need to unite for study and research.”

Dolly Alderton’s books, I think, come badly packaged. The publisher should really rethink the cover design. They are confusing and all over the place. Your eyes hover over the covers without taking much in. I wouldn’t have bought her books had I not read a few of her interviews—one on Elle magazine and another in British GQ—where she talks candidly about why she writes the kinds of stories that she does. I loved reading her interviews because she talks passionately about writing and life.

I read ‘Good Material’ a while back and enjoyed it. About a guy going through a breakup and trying to come to terms with it, Good Material was an interesting take on relationships and how different people view them differently. It was a little slow at times but Alderton’s writing was refreshing and honest and I really enjoyed the book. I had heard her debut novel ‘Ghosts’ was much better than Good Material and though I had seen the book at a few bookstores in town, I had been put off by its silly cover. I know I’m harping about the cover and they say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but with colorful patches and loud proclamations, it’s quite off-putting.

Alderton is a columnist for The Sunday Times and the author of the hugely popular memoir ‘Everything I Know About Love’ which won a National Book Awards (United Kingdom) in 2018. Many of my friends rave about the memoir but I haven’t found the book. I was actually looking for it when I came across Ghosts again and decided to give it a chance (despite the unappealing cover).

Ghosts is a bittersweet and sarcastic book about navigating single life in your 30s. Nina is in her 30s and all her friends are married and having babies. She, on the other hand, has recently broken up with her long time boyfriend. And he is getting engaged to this other girl he has only recently met. Then, she meets someone and they click. Everything looks perfect until he ghosts her, leaving her wondering just what went wrong. Aside from the romantic drama, Nina is also dealing with a difficult career, dwindling friendships, and worse, her beloved dad is slowly losing his memory while her mother seems to be having a mid-life crisis of sorts.

If you feel that’s a bit too much to be happening all at once, if you actually think about it life can sometimes unravel like that. It’s never a linear path, with one singular problem at a time. That is why Ghosts feels so relatable. Nina is not without flaws and you might even identify with one of her friends, depending on what’s going on in your life. The writing is smooth and flows with ease—you feel like a friend is talking to you, taking you through her life.

The book makes you smile, simmer in anger, and upsets you. But as it takes you through a rollercoaster of emotions, you feel better about life in general and more capable of handling whatever comes your way. It left me with an empowering ‘life’s like that’ attitude. I have to admit that it was hard to read at times because of the content but it’s definitely one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.

Fiction 

Ghosts

Dolly Alderton

Published: 2020

Publisher: Penguin Random House UK

Pages: 337, Paperback