Nepal Protesters Turn to Jack Dorsey’s Peer-to-Peer Messaging App to Circumvent Social Media Ban

Nepal recorded 48,781 Bitchat downloads on September 8 as youth-led protests against government corruption and social media bans escalated ￰0￱ Dorsey’s decentralized messaging app experienced massive adoption during civil unrest that left 22 dead and forced Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s ￰1￱ Run to Offline Peer-to-peer Messaging The peer-to-peer application operates entirely without internet infrastructure using Bluetooth Low Energy mesh ￰2￱ communicate through encrypted messages that hop between devices within 30-meter ranges, creating censorship-resistant communication channels during network ￰3￱ to Bitcoin open-source developer “ callebtc ”, global downloads reached 125,486 users, with Nepal accounting for 39% of total ￰4￱ week, we observed a sudden spike in bitchat downloads from Indonesia during nationwide ￰5￱ we're seeing an even bigger spike from Nepal during youth protests over government corruption and a social media ￰6￱ tech is for the ￰7￱ ￰8￱ — calle (@callebtc) September 10, 2025 Indonesia previously recorded 12,581 downloads during August protests over parliamentary allowance increases and police brutality that killed delivery driver Affan ￰9￱ contributed 8,749 downloads while the United States registered 8,211 ￰10￱ launched in beta on July 7, 2025 , filling TestFlight’s 10,000 capacity within ￰11￱ application requires no phone numbers, email addresses, or account registration while providing end-to-end encryption through X25519 key exchange and AES-256-GCM ￰12￱ Democracy Burns: Nepal’s Youth Uprising Nepal’s protests began on September 1, targeting a ban on 26 social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and ￰13￱ restrictions aimed to enforce new regulations but triggered widespread outrage among Gen-Z activists relying on digital platforms for communication and ￰14￱ government lifted social media bans after intense pushback, but protests evolved into broader anti-corruption movements targeting political elite ￰15￱ attacked Parliament, the Supreme Court, and former Prime Ministers’ residences while forcing PM KP Sharma Oli’s resignation on September ￰16￱ is no more parliament in ￰17￱ — RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) September 10, 2025 Nepal Army deployment restored order in Kathmandu as curfews were imposed ￰18￱ crisis represents Nepal’s worst political unrest in decades , with 22 deaths and systematic demands for accountability transcending immediate social media ￰19￱ instability has plagued Nepal since monarchy abolition in 2008, producing 13 different governments in 17 ￰20￱ unemployment and corruption fueled generational frustration, and the “Nepo Kids” phenomenon was highlighted as wealth inequality between political families and ordinary citizens.

Pro-monarchy protests throughout 2025 had already created tensions as royalist sentiment capitalized on republican system ￰21￱ crowds advocating monarchy restoration clashed with police in separate demonstrations demanding political stability through constitutional monarchy ￰22￱ neighbor India heightened border security due to Nepal’s strategic importance and spillover violence ￰23￱ Z protesters rejected traditional political figures while demanding fundamental governmental reforms addressing corruption, nepotism, and economic mismanagement through interim ￰24￱ The lifestyle of politicians' children is directly linked to corruption in that ￰25￱ luxury cars to designer clothes and endless vacations – everything is paid for with taxpayers' ￰26￱ can wait, but when it comes, it hits hard – just like in ￰27￱ — Sprinter Express (@SprinterExpres0) September 9, 2025 However, Indonesia’s August protests involved parliamentary allowance controversies amid economic crisis and youth ￰28￱ Prabowo Subianto replaced ministers following nationwide demonstrations, arson, and looting incidents that killed at least 10 ￰29￱ Messaging Revolution Goes Global Bitchat operates through store-and-forward systems, caching messages for offline users up to 12 ￰30￱ device functions as both client and server, creating self-organizing mesh networks resilient to single points of failure or centralized ￰31￱ fragment into 500-byte chunks, enabling transmission across multiple device hops with up to seven relay ￰32￱ architecture overview.