According to the report's facts and analysis section, AI-generated photos and videos of important state structures like the Parliament Building and Singha Durbar being burned or destroyed were circulated on social media even before the protests.
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The National Human Rights Commission's investigation report has concluded that there was an organized misuse of technology to make the protests of Bhadra 23 and 24, 2082 destructive. According to the report, technology was used as a 'weapon' to mentally prepare the protesters for violence and to confuse security personnel.
According to the facts and analysis section of the report, important state structures like the Parliament Building and Singha Durbar were burned or destroyed before the protests, and AI-generated photos and videos were circulated on social media. The commission has concluded that such materials played a role in spreading confusion and incitement among the public. According to the report, while one group tried to make the protests peaceful, another group made preparations online to make them destructive.
'When analyzing the facts and circumstances of AI-generated photos/videos of burning or destroying public structures including the Parliament Building, Singha Durbar, etc. on social media before the protest, it seems that the media and discussions and statements have revealed and confirmed that two groups are preparing for the protest on Bhadra 23, 2082, one group saying that it will be peaceful and the other group saying that it will be destructive online,' the report says.
The report mentions that the most deadly misuse during the protest was the creation of a fake Facebook page of the Nepal Police. Through the fake page, everyone was called to come in school uniform, saying that 'Nepal Police cannot use force on students in school uniform.' 'The fake Facebook page of the Nepal Police seems to have tried to create 'human shields' by spreading misleading content to the protesters,' the commission concluded.
According to the report, the misuse of technology was not limited to this. Some people had also hacked the digital boards and websites of various schools. The report states that students were encouraged to take to the streets by displaying slogans like 'No More Screens, We Are on Streets' and 'We Don't Want Likes, We Want Change' on the hacked platforms.
The commission has also found that a public call was made to come by making 'Molotov cocktails' (petrol bombs) before the demonstration through a TikTok account called 'Wake Up Nepal'. The commission has analyzed that such activities were a planned attempt to push the movement towards violence.
The commission has raised questions about the government and security agencies not taking any initiative to identify those fake accounts or dispel the confusion even after so many 'clues' or clues have been revealed through technology. The report says, 'Even after such topics have been shared on social media, there is no evidence that the security agencies have made any attempt to deactivate those accounts or identify the confusion, which shows that the security mechanism is weak.'
