Bitchat searches, downloads spike in Madagascar amid protests

Protests erupted in Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo, last Thursday over ongoing water and power cuts, with demonstrations later spreading across the country.

Block CEO Jack Dorsey’s decentralized peer-to-peer messaging service Bitchat has seen a spike in downloads from the African island nation of Madagascar amid protests, following a similar uptick during unrest in Nepal and Indonesia earlier in September.

A Bitcoin open-source developer under the X handle callebtc, who is working on the messaging service, said on Sunday, “Bitchat downloads spiking in Madagascar,” along with screenshots of the protest’s news coverage.

Callebtc Bitcoin didn’t share specific download numbers, but Google Trends search for “Bitchat” shows a spike from 0 to 100 on Friday (over 90 days) in Madagascar, especially Antananarivo.

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