The Center for Media Research – Nepal (CMR-Nepal) launched Nepal’s Misinformation Landscape, an anthology of research articles, to mark the fifth anniversary of its fact-checking initiative on March 25, 2025.
NepalFactCheck.org was initiated in March 2020 as an urgent response to COVID-19 misinformation by CMR-Nepal and the first Nepali-language blog, MySansar. It has been a signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) since 2023.
Chetana Kunwar, assistant editor, said, “NepalFactCheck.org is a platform dedicated to verifying the authenticity of viral news, claims, and information circulating in Nepal.”
She noted that NepalFactCheck.org has published 381 fact-checks since March 2020, with three peak periods: early 2020 (COVID-related misinformation), late 2022 (political misinformation around elections), and early 2025 (surge in deepfake videos and manipulated content targeting public figures).
Nepal’s Misinformation Landscape, edited by Ujjwal Acharya, consists of six chapters, a foreword, an introduction, and a concluding chapter.
Deepak Aryal, chair of CMR-Nepal, said, “This anthology compiles key outputs of our initiative. The chapters examine misinformation and disinformation in Nepal through various theoretical frameworks—some complementary, others contradictory. Together, they provide a foundational understanding of Nepal’s misinformation landscape and offer multiple analytical lenses for further study.”
“This anthology will help researchers and policymakers design interventions to combat misinformation,” he added.
Contributing authors include Bhuwan KC, Chetana Kunwar, Lekhanath Pandey, Rishikesh Dahal, Tilak Pathak, Ujjwal Acharya, and Ujjwal Prajapati.
Hard copies of Nepal’s Misinformation Landscape are available for free to researchers, students, and journalists at the Readers’ Hub (Kaushaltar) or the CMR-Nepal office. A free digital version can also be downloaded here.