During the internet outage in Uganda, Bitchat topped the local app download chart

During the presidential election in Uganda, the government cut off the national Internet access, and the Uganda Communications Commission confirmed that the measures to cut off the network took effect at 18:00 local time on Tuesday night and will continue until the end of the election. The encrypted communication application Bitchat relies on Bluetooth Mesh network to achieve offline encrypted communication, and has currently topped the download charts of Apple App Store and Google Play in Uganda. As of early January, the download volume of Bitchat has exceeded 400000. Multiple VPN applications also rank among the top downloads, indicating an increasing demand for information acquisition among local residents. This is the third consecutive time that Uganda has implemented nationwide internet disconnection during the presidential election period, following similar measures taken during the 2016 and 2021 elections.