Over 48,000 Nepalese people downloaded Block CEO Jack Dorsey’s peer-to-peer messaging app, bitchat, amid a series of violent protests over corruption and a short-lived social media ban earlier this week.
It followed a similar uptick in downloads in Indonesia last week after corruption-related protests erupted, according to Bitcoin open-source developer “callebtc,” who is working on bitchat.
“Last week, we observed a sudden spike in bitchat downloads from Indonesia during nationwide protests. Today we’re seeing an even bigger spike from Nepal during youth protests over government corruption and a social media ban,” callebtc posted to X on Wednesday.
According to charts shared by callebtc, Nepal had fewer than 3,344 downloads last Wednesday before the tally surged to 48,781 on Monday — more than four times higher than the next country, Indonesia, which recorded 11,324.
The sharp rise was fueled by a short-lived social media ban — blocking Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and YouTube — triggering a Gen Z-led protest that saw Nepal’s parliament and supreme court set on fire. Nepal initially imposed the ban to curb the rapid spread of anti-government content online.
Security forces responded fiercely with live fire and tear gas, resulting in at least 19 deaths, while hundreds were left injured. The government building in which Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli resided was also stormed.
Oli is at the center of the corruption allegations, which include the misuse of public funds and a lack of transparency around political decision-making. He has now resigned from his post.
The incidents in Nepal and Indonesia may signal a growing trend of citizens increasingly turning to decentralized, encrypted messaging apps — or “freedom tech” — to protect themselves from government surveillance or censorship.
Meanwhile, the European Union is close to passing a “Chat Control” law which would eliminate encrypted messaging, requiring services such as Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal to allow regulators to screen messages before they are encrypted and sent.
Legislators from 15 member states of the EU have indicated support for the bill, and a vote from Germany could decide whether the controversial bill is passed.
Crypto messaging apps serve as an alternative
Until now, adoption of decentralized, encrypted messaging apps has been driven by users leaving centralized communication platforms that may censor content or impose other restrictions.
Among the most popular centralized communication platforms are Messenger and WhatsApp, which are operated by social media giant Meta, a centralized, profit-driven corporation that uses personal data as a product.
Dorsey’s bitchat is hardly two months old
Dorsey launched a beta for bitchat in July, which uses Bluetooth mesh networks for internet-free, encrypted communication.
Related: Decentralized social media app to challenge Big Tech’s ‘walled gardens’
According to the white paper, the network is fully decentralized with no central servers, accounts, email addresses, phone numbers to register, or infrastructure dependencies.
Crypto messaging still far behind industry giants
Signal, the Nostr-powered Damus, Session and Status are among other messaging apps that have attracted users seeking more secure, censorship-resistant alternatives.
However, decentralized, encrypted messaging apps likely have a long way to go until they can compete with social media giants like Meta, which saw a staggering 3.48 billion average daily users across its family of applications — including Facebook, Messenger and Instagram — in June.
The 3.48 billion figure marked a 6% year-on-year increase, indicating that it hasn’t lost any momentum over the last 12 months.
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