As deadly Hurricane Melissa continues to move across the Caribbean, Jamaicans are rushing to download Jack Dorsey’s decentralized peer-to-peer messaging app Vichat.
Bitchat, which uses a Bluetooth mesh network to encrypt communications without the internet, is currently the second most downloaded app on the Apple App Store and Google Play in Jamaica, providing a lifeline to 2.8 million people as internet penetration continues to stagnate in the region.
BitchChat only follows the weather forecasting platform Zoom Earth, which shows that the most basic needs of Jamaicans today are to know the weather and to communicate with each other.
Bitchat’s ranking in the free section of the Apple App Store on Wednesday. sauce: app figure
CNN reported Wednesday that Hurricane Melissa has killed more than 30 people in the Caribbean, including at least 23 in Haiti, and destroyed countless homes and businesses.
Until recently, the adoption of decentralized encrypted messaging apps has been driven by users leaving centralized communication platforms that can censor content or impose other restrictions.
But Bitchat has since become an important solution for people in countries where internet access has been disrupted by government intervention or natural disasters.
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In September, downloads of Bitchat increased in Nepal over government corruption and a social media ban that blocks Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and YouTube, sparking widespread protests. A week ago, downloads also increased in Indonesia amid protests.
A similar incident occurred in Madagascar later that month, amid protests over continued water and power outages.
The European Union is also considering controversial “chat regulation” legislation that would do away with encrypted messaging and force apps like Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal to allow regulators to encrypt messages and inspect them before sending them.
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The proposal, aimed at identifying child abuse material, was close to passing in October until Germany opposed it, arguing that scanning private messages was unconstitutional.
The vote has now been postponed, with another vote scheduled for early December.
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