In brief
- Downloads of Jack Dorsey’s decentralized messaging app Bitchat have surged in Nepal and Indonesia amid national protests.
- Nepal’s ban on multiple social media platforms drove mass adoption of the decentralized, offline chat app, with downloads surging from 3,300 last week to over 48,000 on Monday.
- Decentralized apps like Bitchat offer a measure of autonomy when confidence in authorities have faltered, Decrypt was told.
Nepal’s social media ban has turned Jack Dorsey’s new decentralized chat app into a protest tool.
After authorities blocked 26 major platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and Instagram, tens of thousands of Nepalis downloaded Bitchat, a messaging app that works without internet or accounts first developed by Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of Twitter (now X).
Downloads jumped from just over 3,300 last Wednesday to 48,781 by Monday, a surge of nearly 1,400% that made Nepal the app’s largest user base worldwide, according to data from an open-source developer who goes by callebtc.
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Author: Vince Dioquino
