Bitchat: Jack Dorsey’s App Emerges as the Protesters’ Digital Weapon in Nepal

Digital repression reaches its limits. In Nepal as in Indonesia, social media censorship has propelled Bitchat, Jack Dorsey’s decentralized application, to the level of a protest tool. Deprived of traditional platforms, thousands of citizens adopt it massively. Like Bitcoin which disrupted finance, Bitchat opens a space for free expression, beyond the reach of States.

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.