If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Uganda’s government is signaling it may move to block Bitchat, a peer-to-peer messaging platform, just days before voters go to the polls. The warning came from Nyombi Thembo, the executive director of the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), who said the state’s technical units were prepared to disable the service if ordered. Speaking to reporters, Thembo claimed Uganda had the capacity to take such action, telling NilePost: “We have the highest concentration of software engineers and developers in this country. It is very easy for us to switch off such platforms if the need arises.” He also cautioned that Bitchat should not be viewed as a reliable workaround for potential communication limits. One of Bitchat’s open-source developers, known online as “Calle,” doubted the government could follow through, saying the platform’s design makes blocking it nearly impossible. Bitchat connects users through a Bluetooth mesh network rather than the internet or phone signal. No account setup is needed, and messages move directly between nearby devices. This architecture allows communication to continue even when authorities restrict online access, as no central servers can be targeted. The app’s user base has expanded rapidly in the past week. Calle reported that installations in Uganda have jumped by several hundred thousand, about one percent of the country’s population. The growth reflects public anxiety over a repeat of earlier information blackouts. In 2021, the Ugandan government cut internet access nationwide the day before the election, an outage that lasted more than four days. Social media and mobile payments were also periodically restricted around politically sensitive events. The unease has deepened after Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite internet service, suspended operations in Uganda following a government request. Officials said the company lacked a local license, but many citizens saw the move as an early warning of wider controls. Authorities insist there will be no internet shutdown this time. Thembo called reports of an impending blackout “mere rumors,” while the Ministry of ICT’s Permanent Secretary, Aminah Zawedde, maintained that the government “has not announced, directed, or implemented any decision to shut down the internet during the election period,” describing claims to the contrary as “false and misleading.” Officials said Starlink’s suspension was a matter of compliance rather than censorship. Still, the sequence of government interventions has left many skeptical. President Yoweri Museveni, who has led Uganda for 40 years, is again facing a challenge from opposition figure Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as musician Bobi Wine. After the 2021 shutdown, Wine alleged that the blackout concealed irregularities in the vote. This election season, he is urging citizens to install Bitchat while they still can, warning in December that the “regime is plotting an internet shutdown in the coming days.” The renewed confrontation over communications technology exposes a deeper struggle over who controls information in Uganda. Bitchat’s decentralized model, which relies on direct device-to-device links, makes censorship costly and inefficient, if not impossible. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Bitchat Rises as Uganda Threatens Another Digital Blackout appeared first on Reclaim The Net.