Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat Sees Downloads Spike in Uganda Over Web Shutdown Worries

Ugandans have turned to Bitchat in massive numbers as worries mount over potential web restrictions throughout the presidential elections set for subsequent week. According to pseudonymous Bitchat developer Calle, tons of of 1000’s of installs occurred on Android units alone in Uganda in latest days, amounting to roughly 1% of the inhabitants. This adopted calls from opposition chief Robert Kyagulanyi, higher generally known as Bobi Wine, to obtain the app preemptively. 

This spike displays classes from the 2021 elections, when authorities imposed a nationwide internet blackout lasting greater than 4 days, which Wine claimed facilitated electoral fraud. 

This newest sequence of occasions started in late December, when Wine publicly urged residents to undertake Bitchat to keep up communication if the federal government cuts entry. On Monday, Nyombi Thembo, head of the Uganda Communications Fee, issued a warning that the app might be blocked, citing the nation’s pool of software program specialists to implement it. Officers have denied any plans for a shutdown, with ICT Everlasting Secretary Aminah Zawedde stating no such determination exists.

After all, Calle and different Bitchat proponents shared their skepticism that the app might be blocked even when authorities wished to forestall the native inhabitants from utilizing it. Including to tensions, Starlink services also remain suspended in Uganda for missing a license, limiting satellite-based options. 

Bitchat, which was created by Twitter (now X) and Square (now Block) founder Jack Dorsey throughout a weekend mission final summer season, permits customers to kind location-based chatrooms and, extra notably, relay messages by way of Bluetooth-powered mesh networks in a peer-to-peer setup. This bypasses conventional web infrastructure, much like FireChat did for protesters in Hong Kong’s 2014 Umbrella Movement, the place it enabled coordination amid sign jamming. By connecting units instantly inside vary, Bitchat can function with out central servers and even entry to the normal web, making it proof against broad shutdowns.

Not too long ago, the app drew consideration during Nepal’s Gen Z protests, the place it supported protesters in overthrowing the federal government. On September 4, authorities banned 26 platforms, together with Fb, X, YouTube, and Sign, to curb demonstrations in opposition to nepotism and a digital tax. Downloads jumped from 3,000 to 50,000 each day, with 48,000 in Nepal alone on September 8, equating to 38% of world installs. Customers leveraged Bitchat’s mesh networking capabilities, with every node extending attain as much as 30 meters in crowded areas, to prepare marches that culminated in arson at the parliament building and the regime’s fall.

The same sample emerged in Indonesia throughout the September 2025 protests, the place Calle noted a pointy rise in Bitchat adoption. Analytics confirmed installs climbing to 12,581 within the nation by September 3, outpacing the mixed downloads happening within the U.S. and Russia, amid nationwide demonstrations.

Centralized web setups in many countries enable straightforward disruptions throughout unrest, as seen in Uganda’s previous web blackout, Nepal’s app bans, and plenty of different historic examples. Whereas Bluetooth-based meshes assist regionally, they falter over distances past a couple of hundred meters with out denser consumer bases. That mentioned, further {hardware} just like the units provided by GoTenna can prolong this by way of radio frequencies, creating bigger ad-hoc networks as much as a number of kilometers per hop, that are utilized in catastrophe zones and off-grid situations. There are additionally varied subreddits and initiatives the place folks dream a few day when mesh networks might change the centralized, real-world infrastructure that helps the web right this moment.

Satellite tv for pc choices like Starlink additional complicate authorities controls by beaming entry from orbit. Whereas nonetheless enabling web entry by way of a centralized supply, the web supplier from SpaceX nonetheless permits for an alternate technique to keep related when native choices are disabled, whether or not deliberately or not. For instance, Sudanese users relied on it throughout a February 2024 outage amid civil battle, and Afghan activists used it to dodge Taliban-imposed nationwide restrictions in late 2025.

As indicated by the present scenario in Uganda, Starlink’s official place is that it doesn’t assist areas the place it isn’t formally licensed, regulated, and allowed to function. That mentioned, there have been reports of users on Reddit activating Starlink terminals in a single nation after which working on a roaming foundation in one other.

With increasing instruments like Starlink and mesh networking options, proscribing connectivity grows harder outdoors excessive, utterly totalitarian instances like North Korea, the place USB drives and smuggled media still penetrate borders regardless of complete isolation.