This commentary was published in commemoration of International Fact-Checking Day, held April 2 each year to recognize the work of fact-checkers worldwide.
On the evening of Sept. 8, 2025, Nepal was shell-shocked. What started as peaceful Gen Z demonstrations against corruption rapidly turned into a killing field, with police guarding the parliament building firing indiscriminately on demonstrators for hours.
Citizens of this Hindu-majority nation tried to make sense of the 19 deaths shared widely via raw video. They were emotional, confused and helpless when another video started going viral. This one showed people trying to gatecrash Pashupatinath Temple, the most revered Hindu temple in the capital, Kathmandu, and the accompanying message indicated that they were trying to burn it down. It spread like wildfire, with many social media users calling for action to protect the temple.
In that chaotic situation, we at NepalFactCheck.org were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of misinformation and the emotional impact of the day’s events. But we knew the video could cause real harm to society and therefore made an effort to fact-check it.
Within a few hours, we published a fact check proving the video was recycled from previous footage. That fact check was referenced by social media users and mainstream media, and the virality of the misinformation diminished. We would like to claim that our fact-checking saved lives, but we can’t prove it — and as fact-checkers, we are not trained to write perceived truths, but evidence-backed ones.
With very limited resources, we were able to debunk five pieces of misinformation over two days of Gen Z demonstrations in Nepal. From among hundreds of false claims, we strategically chose those with the potential to flare tensions, trigger violence, or fuel larger disinformation narratives. We are proud of our work during the crisis.
When big platforms are quiet
Nepal, like many other global majority countries — a term used to describe regions where most of the world’s population lives outside the West — is neglected by big social media platforms. They are often absent, and even when present, they largely do not engage meaningfully. This was evident during Nepal’s general elections on March 5, 2026, an early election triggered by the political crisis following the Gen Z demonstrations.
Apart from a token visit by TikTok and a virtual meeting between Meta and the Election Commission of Nepal, major platforms largely ignored the elections, despite officials expressing concerns about misinformation risks. Back in 2022, Meta had opened its ad library, trained officials, journalists and civil society, and supported misinformation monitoring, but it remained largely silent during the 2026 electoral cycle.
Given the politically turbulent context, we mobilized small contributions from known funders and, supported by funding from the International Fact-Checking Network, strengthened our efforts, hiring two fact-checkers, ensuring nationwide monitoring and providing honoraria to freelancers. We also signed an agreement with one of Nepal’s leading online portals to collaborate on publishing and promoting fact checks. These efforts resulted in 60 fact checks in the 30 days leading up to voting day, and eight fact-checks on election day itself.
During the election cycle, we witnessed a multifold increase in misinformation and applied the same strategy: focusing on content with the potential to undermine election integrity. The 2026 elections remained peaceful, and there is no conclusive evidence that misinformation directly altered the final results.
To preserve the integrity of the elections, we played our part.
Why fact-checking matters
NepalFactCheck.org was started in March 2020 as an urgent response to coronavirus misinformation. We had the knowledge and skills to begin a fact-checking initiative, and the will to help protect Nepalis during the public health crisis. It was important because we saw pseudoscience and false claims being circulated by opinion leaders and influencers.
After six years, we have enough evidence to show why fact-checking matters, especially in a global majority country like Nepal, where big platforms are noncommittal in combating misinformation, the media system is weakened by the struggle to survive and information literacy among the general population remains low, even as internet penetration is high due to mobile phone use.
Fact-checking matters for various reasons in Nepal. We count seven reasons.
First, fact-checking breaks the cycle of misinformation. The majority of misinformation resurfaces in recycled forms, sometimes cross-border, as joint research in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka has shown. The presence of fact checks on the internet provides users with searchable results that can counter misinformation.
Second, fact-checking promotes accountability and journalism standards. While we have not always been well received by mainstream media when we fact-check their content, we have received feedback that fact-checking is often discussed in newsroom meetings, with editors asking journalists to ensure their reporting does not become a fact check. We also have instances where social media influencers have thanked fact-checkers for pointing out their errors. Both media and influencers have corrected their content.
Third, fact-checking documents evidence on misinformation. In global majority countries, empirical research on misinformation remains very limited. Fact checks therefore become documented evidence of misinformation that is used in op-eds, scientific research and public awareness efforts.
Fourth, in a country where information literacy is low, fact checks serve as informational content that directly contradicts misinformation. Many citizens in Nepal, who were not primary consumers of mainstream media, began receiving direct, unmediated information from social media on their phones, often with a bullet-like impact. For them, fact checks serve a similar function, as they tend to trust the information they receive.
Fifth, fact-checking promotes information literacy, the long-term intervention against misinformation by helping citizens understand that information on social media, in the media or elsewhere is not always correct.
Sixth, fact-checking encourages more fact-checking. In the 2026 elections, NepalFactCheck.org forged a collaboration with leading portal OnlineKhabar.com to publish and promote fact checks, Nepal’s leading media house Kantipur Media Group began a separate fact-checking subdomain, while some other media also published work as fact checks.
Seventh, fact-checking involves important work that is not always visible. Monitoring misinformation and conducting incomplete or exploratory fact-checking produces significant knowledge and evidence that are used by researchers. Two examples illustrate this: first, the role of China Radio International, a Chinese state broadcaster, in fuelling tensions during the politically charged debate on the U.S. providing grants to Nepal under the Millennium Challenge Corporation in 2017; and second, unfounded accusations by Indian TV stations portraying an elected Nepali representative as a Pakistan-funded coronavirus conspirator.
In the lead-up to parliamentary ratification of the compact, there were violent demonstrations on the streets. China Radio International’s Nepal-specific Facebook page with 2.7 million likes published six videos with intent to promote anti-U.S. and pro-China sentiments using inflammatory and unverified claims.
The second incident shows how some Indian TV channels spread false and unverified claims falsely accusing a Nepali Muslim man of plotting to spread the covid virus in India. Despite official denial, the channels repeated the misinformation, amplifying conspiracy narratives and communal suspicion. Contents from these two incidents were not fact-checked but the monitoring data from fact-checkers documented those incidents, and later became published case studies of misinformation.
Ebbs and flows
In the last six years, we had our ebbs and flows. Many times, we had hard times finding financial means to sustain fact-checking. Other times, we wondered whether fact-checking is futile or fruitful for society.
But experience and evidence from the pandemic, protests and polls make our trust on the importance of fact-checking stronger. We are now confident that fact-checking matters in saving the sanity of information, protecting people and protecting democracy.
