Nepal Sees 48,000 Bitchat Downloads Amid Deadly Protests

During Nepal's recent youth-led protests against government corruption and a sweeping social media ban, Jack Dorsey's decentralized messaging app Bitchat experienced a dramatic surge in downloads, with 48,781 recorded in Nepal alone, representing nearly 39% of the app's global usage at that time. The app, which operates without internet infrastructure by utilizing Bluetooth Low Energy mesh networks to relay encrypted messages across devices, became a vital communication tool amid the government's shutdown of 26 social media platforms including Facebook and YouTube. The protests, marked by violent clashes that resulted in at least 30 deaths and significant unrest including the burning of parliament and Supreme Court buildings, culminated in the resignation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli amid corruption allegations. Bitchat's innovative features—such as its decentralized design requiring no accounts or phone numbers, emergency wipe function, and ability to relay pre-signed Bitcoin transactions—have made it especially valuable in environments with censorship and connectivity restrictions. Similar spikes in Bitchat downloads were observed in Indonesia and Russia during comparable protests, suggesting a growing global trend of activists adopting censorship-resistant, peer-to-peer messaging technologies. The Nepal case highlights the intersection of political instability, digital censorship, and the increasing reliance on decentralized communication platforms to maintain connectivity and resist government surveillance.