Uganda’s Bobi Wine Promotes Bitchat Amid Fears of Internet Blackout

Ugandan politician and opposition leader Bobi Wine is encouraging his constituents to download Jack Dorsey’s decentralized peer-to-peer messaging service, Bitchat, in the lead-up to the country’s election, alleging the ruling party will try to cut off communication services.  

During the 2016 election, long-time Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni blocked internet and social media access for the entire population, citing security and safety concerns, and again in 2021, according to a report from the Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network.

Wine alleged in a X post on Tuesday that a similar action is on the agenda in the lead-up to the Uganda 2026 presidential election, which is scheduled for Jan. 15.

“They switch off the internet in order to block communication and ensure that citizens do not organise, verify their election results and demand for accountability over the massive election theft,” he said.

The Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network claims the social media blackouts mostly harm the political opposition, which relies on the platforms to organize campaigns and protests.

The Ugandan government said the measures were needed for national security and to ensure public order during the election.  

Starlink imports also restricted

Last week, Reuters reported there was a government memo to restrict the importation of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet equipment, which can provide high-speed internet in areas that previously had no reliable options.

Dorsey launched a Bitchat beta in July. It uses Bluetooth mesh networks for internet-free, encrypted communication, and according to the white paper, the network is fully decentralized with no central servers, accounts, email addresses, phone numbers to register, or infrastructure dependencies.

Wine said Bitchat will allow communication with “thousands of people in record time,” and help share “other critical information to specific or other users,” during the election.

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He leads the National Unity Platform political party and ran in the 2021 Ugandan presidential election, losing to Museveni. Wine alleges the election was rigged by Museveni, who denies the allegations and has ruled Uganda since 1986.

Bitchat trending on Google in Uganda

Google Trends search for “Bitchat” in Uganda spiked from 0 to 100 on Wednesday. Phrases such as “Bitchat apk download” and “how to use Bitchat” were among the top five related queries and were tagged as “breakout topics,” meaning they saw a “tremendous increase” in activity.

Chrome-Stats show Bitchat has been downloaded 936,104 times since its launch, with over 4,252 coming in the last day and more than 32,524 in the last week.

In September, the African island nation of Madagascar also experienced a spike in Bitchat downloads amid protests, following a similar uptick during unrest in Nepal and Indonesia earlier in the month.

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