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[DECODED] Gen Z rising in the streets and online
October 9, 2025
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Young people from Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines are turning memes into protest tools
MANILA, Philippines – In 2025, protests swept across Asia, with Gen Z at the forefront. From the “Dark Indonesia” movement, to Nepal’s uprising against a social media ban, and the Philippines’ youth-led marches against corruption in flood control projects, young people took to the streets and brought their digital culture with them.
In this video, we decode how memes and pop culture symbols on social media quickly evolved into rallying cries offline, and why these resonate among the youth. But while social media platforms fuel outrage and mobilization, they also facilitate the spread of disinformation, making them a double-edged sword. In these spaces, truth and lies collide.
Watch our video for more. – Rappler.com
This story was originally published on Rappler on September 29, 2025.
Decoded is a Rappler series that tackles Big Tech not just as a system of abstract infrastructure or policy levers, but as something that directly shapes human experiences. It is produced by The Nerve, a data forensics company that enables changemakers to navigate real-world trends and issues through narrative and network investigations. Taking the best of human and machine, we enable partners to unlock powerful insights that shape informed decisions. Composed of a team of data scientists, strategists, award-winning storytellers, and designers, the company is on a mission to deliver data with real-world impact.
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What does your company do?
The Nerve is a data forensics company that enables changemakers to navigate real-world trends and issues through narrative and network investigations. Our solutions are designed to eliminate blind spots online to help navigate effective and measurable strategies and campaigns at any stage.
What is data forensics?
Data forensics is our cutting-edge, investigative approach that derives actionable insights from big data across multiple digital platforms. Taking the best of human and machine, The Nerve’s approach provides truths anchored in context to unlock powerful insights that can shape informed decisions for any organization.
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From quick audience insights to advanced network intelligence, we offer a suite of data solutions for ecosystem investigations, reputation & risk management, influence & network intelligence, audience insights, and measurement & impact monitoring. You may click on the Solutions page for more information on our offerings. You may also email us at hello@thenerve.co or go to Contact Us for a free consultation.
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We equip different industries with data solutions for high impact strategies. With work in 12 countries, we have collaborated with a wide range of companies and organizations – from private companies across varied industries (such as energy, FMCG, telecommunications, banking, and logistics), newsrooms, to global enterprises, philanthropic foundations and developmental organizations. Our use-cases span from communications research and strategies, crisis management, briefings and strategic advisory, campaigns and community engagement and impact monitoring.
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Our flexible solutions may be applied at any stage. For planning campaigns and strategies, The Nerve’s big data insights have proven critical to shaping both messaging and distribution strategies and tactics for our partners. Meanwhile, monitoring and milestone reports allow for a nuanced view of best practices and risks so that you can act fast and iterate throughout the year. Crisis reports are activated swiftly. Finally, impact reports provide a full view to understand the hows and whys behind the campaign numbers — map how your initiative was picked up by key communities or audiences and how you were able to affect messaging and conversations in the space.
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Our engagement process typically involves the following steps: (1) Introduction: We introduce who we are and what we do. (2) Discovery and Briefing: We work with you to understand your objectives and challenges. (3) Proposal-building: We customize a methodology with data solutions to meet your needs. (4) Implementation and Reporting: We execute the methodology and share the results of the project through a fully crafted report with strategic recommendations that you can act on.
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We use a mix of proprietary tools and AI solutions, as well as subscription tools to customize the right data solution for your specific needs. We get publicly accessible data across social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Youtube), as well as news and media sites, blogs, and forums.
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