Bitchat Downloads Surge Amid Madagascar Protests

[cryptoenthusiast]

Jack Dorsey’s decentralized messaging service Bitchat has seen a dramatic rise in downloads in Madagascar as protests over power and water cuts rock the country.
A Bitcoin developer working on the app said on X that downloads were “spiking,” while Google Trends data shows searches for “Bitchat” jumped from 0 to 100 — “peak popularity” — in the past 90 days, especially in Antananarivo.
The unrest follows a pattern seen in Nepal and Indonesia, where Bitchat also gained traction during anti-government demonstrations earlier in September.

[Abdul Khan]

Bitchat surging during protests shows how quickly people turn to decentralized tools in crises.

[Rimon Khan]

From Madagascar to Nepal, the trend proves offline encrypted messaging is becoming a protest staple.