Jack Dorsey’s decentralized messaging app is gaining traction on the African island as residents look for alternative communication channels.
Recent riots in Madagascar’s capital have triggered a spike in the use of Bitchat, the decentralized peer-to-peer messaging app developed by Jack Dorsey. The surge in app activity mirrors trends already observed in Nepal and Indonesia in recent weeks.
The protests began on September 25 in Antananarivo, the Malagasy capital, in response to the country’s water and energy crisis. Clashes with law enforcement and looting incidents led the government to remove the energy minister and impose a curfew.
On September 28, open-source developer Calle reported the surge in Bitchat downloads on the island, sharing screenshots of media coverage of the protests.
Google Trends data confirm this trend: searches for “Bitchat” rose from 0 to 100 on September 26 (over a 90-day period) in Madagascar, especially in the capital. Related queries like “Bitchat download” and “how to use Bitchat” entered the top five search terms, labeled as “rising topics” with exponential activity growth.
Chrome-Stats statistics reveal that Bitchat has reached a total of 365,307 downloads since launch, with over 21,000 installations in the last day and more than 71,000 in the past week. However, the data do not specify the detailed geographic origin of these numbers.
The surge in Madagascar mirrors similar dynamics observed weeks earlier in Nepal, where violent anti-corruption protests led to a brief social media ban, pushing protesters to seek alternative channels to organize. Indonesia also saw a similar increase in Bitchat downloads following corruption-related protests.
