Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat App Becomes Nepal Protesters’ Digital Weapon of Choice

Nepal's streets erupt—protesters ditch traditional channels for Jack Dorsey's encrypted messaging platform Bitchat. Government firewalls? Rendered useless.

The Digital Uprising

Activists coordinate in real-time, bypassing state surveillance with end-to-end encryption. No central servers means no shutdown points—just pure, decentralized communication flowing through the Himalayas.

Finance's Ironic Twist

Meanwhile, Wall Street still debates whether crypto has 'real utility'—as if bypassing authoritarian crackdowns with a 100% uptime tool counts as nothing. Dorsey's bet on decentralized tech just cut through Nepal's digital iron curtain without asking for permission.

Future-Proofing Dissent

Bitchat isn't just another app—it's a blueprint. No middlemen, no gatekeepers, no desperate pleas to app stores for reinstatement. When traditional finance and governance fail, decentralized tools don't just enable protest—they guarantee it.

In brief

• Bitchat downloads explode in Nepal and Indonesia during protests.
• The ban on social networks transformed the application into a protest tool.
• Bitchat, offline and without account, circumvents censorship and protects communications.
• This adoption illustrates the growing role of decentralized technologies in the fight against authoritarianism.

When Repression Fuels Citizen Innovation!

The story has almost become a classic: a government blocks Facebook, WhatsApp, or YouTube, thinking it will stifle protest. But in Nepal, this strategy backfired.

After banning 26 platforms, Bitchat downloads exploded, rising from 3,300 to over 48,000 in just a few days, according to data from the open-source developer Ebtc. This surge made the country the global epicenter for the application created by Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s cofounder.

This rapid adoption comes amid a major political crisis. Protests against corruption have already caused more than thirty deaths and forced Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to resign. 

Deprived of their usual networks, Nepalese youth have turned to Bitchat to organize, share information, and maintain a voice despite censorship.

In Indonesia, a similar story unfolds. During protests against parliamentary allowances deemed excessive, police repression fueled popular anger. 

The tragic death of a young rideshare driver crystallized the movement. Again, thousands of users adopted Bitchat, seen as a credible alternative to channels monitored and controlled by the state.

Bitchat, the Formidable Plan B That Circumvents All Censorship

Bitchat is not just a simple messenger. Thanks to its peer-to-peer architecture, operating offline and without registration, it stands as a symbol of digital autonomy.

In a context where governments strengthen their censorship and surveillance arsenal, this application illustrates a shift: citizens seek to regain control over their communications.

As expert Christian Ruz explained to Decrypt, “decentralized and censorship-resistant messaging apps will see an explosion in adoption.”

Behind Bitchat lies much more than a technological phenomenon: a global movement linking social demands and decentralized innovations. Just like bitcoin opened a breach in traditional finance, tools like Bitchat open today a free space for public speech and citizen coordination.

These solutions appear as a genuine lifeline in societies where institutional legitimacy erodes. Their rise in Nepal and Indonesia could serve as a model in other Global South countries, often marked by recurring political, economic, and social crises.

In this sense, Bitchat now imposes itself as a digital weapon against repression. Its success shows that decentralized technologies are not mere gadgets but powerful political levers and tools of freedom. Jack Dorsey’s application thus joins the growing arsenal of digital resistance instruments, serving a more autonomous and resilient protest.

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