Over a million people in Uganda just downloaded Bitchat, a peer-to-peer private message app utilizing bluetooth and Nostr. No internet, phone number, or personal information required. Why? Because elections are coming up, and citizens are worried the government will censor communications by shutting off the internet. Unfortunately for the Uganda government, they can’t shut down Bitchat. Here’s what opposition leader @HEBobiwine said: “As we all know, the regime is plotting an internet shutdown in the coming days, like they have done in all previous elections. 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. Bitchat will enable you to communicate to thousands of people in record time. No internet connection is required. You will be able to send pictures of DR Forms and share any other critical information to specific or other users. No internet required. No sharing of phone numbers or email address. All you need to do is switch on blue tooth and use the app.” Bitchat was built by @jack on iOS and converted to Android by @callebtc Here’s a clip from my show on @RoxomTV where I covered Bitchat usage in Uganda.