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Bitchat Downloads Spike in Uganda as Government Prepares Internet Shutdown for Election

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Uganda’s authorities imposed a nationwide web blackout on Tuesday forward of Thursday’s presidential election, triggering a surge in downloads of Bitchat, a decentralized messaging app that operates offline.

The Uganda Communications Commission ordered cellular suppliers to droop public web entry from 6 p.m. native time, citing issues over misinformation and electoral fraud as 81-year-old President Yoweri Museveni seeks his seventh time period in opposition to opposition challenger Bobi Wine.

Bitchat developer Calle reported the app turned Uganda’s most downloaded utility as residents ready for the shutdown.

The peer-to-peer messenger makes use of Bluetooth to relay encrypted messages between close by units, creating mesh networks that perform independently of conventional web infrastructure and don’t require telephone numbers or account registration.

Internet Blackout Mirrors 2021 Election Crackdown

According to Vanguard, the Uganda Communications Commission justified the suspension as obligatory to forestall “on-line misinformation, disinformation, electoral fraud and associated dangers” that might undermine nationwide safety in the course of the election interval.

The directive applies to all entry applied sciences, together with cellular broadband, fiber-optic companies, and satellite tv for pc web, with violators going through fines and attainable license suspensions.

NetBlocks confirmed “nation-scale disruption to web connectivity” shortly after the three p.m. GMT implementation deadline.

Voice calls and fundamental SMS companies remained operational, whereas important state companies obtained exemptions by way of safe whitelisted techniques restricted to approved personnel.

The authorities had repeatedly promised web entry would stay obtainable, stating on January 5 that “claims suggesting in any other case are false, deceptive, and meant to trigger pointless concern and rigidity among the many public.“

Uganda beforehand minimize web entry throughout its 2021 election, which worldwide observers described as marred by widespread allegations of rigging and state violence in opposition to opposition supporters.

Opposition Faces Intensified Repression Ahead of Vote

United Nations Human Rights Office reported that police and navy forces used dwell ammunition to disperse peaceable rallies, carried out arbitrary detentions, and kidnapped opposition supporters in the election run-up.

Security forces detained a whole bunch of opposition supporters whereas repeatedly firing tear fuel at marketing campaign occasions supporting Bobi Wine, whose actual identify is Robert Kyagulanyi.

The authorities on Tuesday ordered two native rights teams (Chapter Four Uganda and Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda) to instantly stop operations.

The state-run National Bureau for NGOs accused the organizations of actions “prejudicial” to Uganda’s safety.

Both teams had documented alleged arbitrary detention and torture of opposition supporters and journalists overlaying the election marketing campaign.

Another opposition determine, Kizza Besigye, who challenged Museveni in 4 earlier elections, stays jailed on treason costs after being kidnapped in Kenya in 2024 and returned to Uganda for navy trial.

Decentralized App Provides Communication Alternative

Bitchat entered beta testing in July and requires no accounts, telephone numbers, or central infrastructure.

The app fragments messages into 500-byte chunks that hop between units inside 30 meters, with as much as 7 relay factors enabling transmission throughout connectivity blackouts.

Store-and-forward techniques cache messages for offline customers as much as 12 hours, making certain supply when direct connections are unavailable.

Wine encouraged supporters to download the application throughout his closing Monday rally, the place heavy safety deployment established a fringe that deterred attendance.

Uganda Bitchat Downloads - Bobi Wine image
Bobi Wine in the course of the celebration’s closing marketing campaign rally in Kampala on Monday. | Source: NYT

Soldiers chased down and beat no less than one particular person for waving Uganda’s nationwide flag, an emblem of Wine’s marketing campaign that authorities have banned.

Uganda Communications Commission government director Nyombi Thembo warned regulators may disable Bitchat if wanted, stating, “Don’t be excited by Bitchat, it’s a small factor.“

Calle rejected that assessment, citing inner information displaying over 400,000 Ugandan downloads whereas declaring, “You can’t cease Bitchat. You can’t cease us.“

Museveni got here to energy in 1986 after main a five-year rebel and is Africa’s third-longest serving head of state. He has modified the structure twice to take away age and time period limits.

His marketing campaign slogan “Protecting the Gains” contrasts sharply with Wine’s “Protest Vote” message, emphasizing generational change for Uganda’s inhabitants, the place a couple of in 4 residents are between 18 and 30 years previous.

Notably, Uganda’s adoption follows related patterns throughout latest civil unrest throughout a number of nations.

Nepal recorded 48,781 downloads in September throughout youth-led protests in opposition to authorities corruption that left 22 useless and compelled Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s resignation, whereas Madagascar saw searches spike from zero to 100 throughout violent demonstrations over water and electrical energy shortages that prompted authorities curfews throughout the capital.

The put up Bitchat Downloads Spike in Uganda as Government Prepares Internet Shutdown for Election appeared first on Cryptonews.

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