More than 48,000 Nepalese have downloaded the messaging application between the CEO of Block, Jack Dorsey, Bitchat, in the middle of a series of violent protests against corruption and a short -term ban on social networks earlier this week.
He followed a similar increase in downloads in Indonesia last week after demonstrations related to corruption broke out, according to the Bitcoin Open-Source developer “Callebtc”, who works on Bitchat.
“Last week, we observed a sudden peak in Bitchat of Indonesia during national demonstrations. Today, we see an even more important peak in Nepal during young people against government corruption and a ban on social media,” Callebtc published on Wednesday.
According to the graphics shared by Callebtc, Nepal had less than 3,344 downloads last Wednesday before the statement went to 48,781 Monday – more than four times higher than the following country, Indonesia, which recorded 11,324.
The sharp increase was fueled by a short -lived social media ban – blocking Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and Youtube – triggering a manifestation led by Gen Z which saw the Parliament of Nepal and the Supreme Court. Nepal initially imposed the prohibition to limit the rapid spread of online anti-government content.
The security forces responded fiercely with living fire and tear gas, causing at least 19 deaths, while hundreds were injured. The government building in which Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was also temporary.
Oli is at the center of corruption allegations, which include the misuse of public funds and the lack of transparency concerning political decision -making. He has now resigned from his post.
Incidents in Nepal and Indonesia can point out a growing tendency of citizens who are increasingly turning to decentralized and encrypted messaging applications – or “freedom technology” – to protect themselves from government surveillance or censorship.
Meanwhile, the European Union is about to adopt a law of “cat control” which would eliminate encrypted messaging, requiring services such as Telegram, Whatsapp and Signal to allow regulators to filter messages before being encrypted and sent.
The legislators of 15 EU member states have indicated support for the bill, and a vote of Germany could decide whether the controversial bill is adopted.
Crypto messaging applications serve as an alternative
Until now, the adoption of decentralized and encrypted messaging applications has been motivated by users leaving the centralized communication platforms that can censor the content or impose other restrictions.
Messenger and the most popular Whatsapp appear among the most popular centralized communication platforms, which are managed by the social media giant Meta, a centralized company and focused on personal data as a product.
The Bitchat de Dorsey has little two months
Dorsey launched a beta version for Bitchat in July, which uses Bluetooth network networks for encrypted communication without the Internet.
In relation: Decentralized social media application to challenge “ closed gardens ” from Big Tech
According to the White Paper, the network is fully decentralized without central servers, accounts, email addresses, telephone numbers to record or infrastructure dependencies.
Cryptographic messaging still far behind the industry giants
The signal, damus, session and status fueled by NOSTR are among the other messaging applications that attracted users looking for safer and censorship alternatives.
However, decentralized and encrypted messaging applications probably have a long way to go until they can compete with social media giants like Meta, who saw a stagnation of 3.48 billion daily daily users in his family of candidates – including Facebook, Messenger and Instagram – in June.
The figure of 3.48 billion marked an increase of 6% in annual shift, which indicates that it has not lost momentum in the last 12 months.
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