Amid internet shutdowns due to the ongoing protests across the country against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019, some people have found ways to communicate with each other through offline messaging apps.
As per reports, the offline messaging apps such as Bridgefy and Fire Chat are witnessing a tremendous growth in India after mobile internet services were suspended in many parts of the country to prevent alleged misuse of social media in disturbing peace and to maintain law and order situations.
These offline messaging apps uses mesh network which means that a user can use Bluetooth to connect to another user to send and receive messages.
In the wake of the CAA protests across the country, the social media is also now abuzz with people recommending and advertising about these offline chat apps to protesters of CAA.
Data from US app intelligence firm Apotopia shows that Bridegfy downloads and usage have grown 80 times on an average following shutdown of mobile internet services on December 12.