India Orders GitHub to Remove Jack Dorsey's Bitchat App for Defying Internet Shutdowns

India Orders GitHub to Remove Jack Dorsey's Bitchat, the Bluetooth App That Works Without Internet

When India restricted internet access around a protest in Delhi, demonstrators turned to a Bluetooth messaging app that works without the internet. The government's response: order GitHub to remove it. The app is Bitchat, developed by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey 1.

The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), the Home Ministry's cybercrime arm, issued the takedown notice on July 23, 2026. Dorsey shared it on X on July 24, writing: "The Government of India does not like technologies like Bitchat and wants it taken down" 1.

The trigger was a protest organized by the Cockroach Janata Party at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. When the government imposed temporary restrictions on internet services around the area, several participants were observed using Bluetooth-based messaging apps to coordinate 1.

Bitchat enables decentralized peer-to-peer messaging over Bluetooth mesh networks without relying on mobile networks, internet connectivity, or centralized servers, according to I4C's notice. It requires no mandatory user registration, phone number verification, or centralized logging of communications. I4C said it has identified multiple applications with similar decentralized architecture, naming Bitchat specifically in the notice 1.

Those features are what make the app useful when a government cuts conventional internet access. They are also exactly what I4C flagged as threats. The agency said the app's technical architecture "significantly impedes lawful interception, attribution and investigation by law enforcement agencies" and cited intelligence inputs suggesting such platforms could be exploited for coordinating unlawful assemblies, violent protests, and the spread of misinformation 1.

The notice claims the app creates a risk of misuse by anti-national elements, terrorist organizations, organized criminal groups, and cybercriminals seeking to evade lawful detection. I4C told GitHub, a Microsoft subsidiary, that the app violates Sections 43, 84B, and 84C of the Information Technology Act, along with Section 61 read with sections 196 and 197. A query sent to I4C by The Hindu elicited no immediate reply 1.

The confrontation follows an escalation pattern that has tightened globally. Governments cut internet access to suppress unrest. Activists build tools that route around the blackout. Authorities then go after the tools themselves. India's demand against Bitchat targets not specific messages or users but the code that enables communication. That distinction carries weight. Removing a post silences a statement. Removing an app silences the capacity to communicate at all.

The order also puts GitHub in an uncomfortable position. Bitchat's code lives on the platform, and India's demand asks the code-hosting service to decide whether to comply with a government request to delete code that protesters rely on. Because Bitchat operates without a centralized service provider, there is no server to seize and no subscriber database to subpoena. The only pressure point available to authorities is the repository where the code is hosted.

For teams building anti-censorship or decentralized communication tools, the Bitchat order previews the likely playbook. When a circumvention app gains visibility during a shutdown, the hosting platform receives a legal demand citing national security and criminal risk. The features that make the app resilient against censorship are the same features governments will name as threats in their takedown notices.

Dorsey's decision to publish the notice rather than quietly comply signals his posture. The harder question belongs to GitHub: keep the code up and risk confrontation with the Indian government, or comply and establish that open-source circumvention tools can be delisted on legal demand. Shutdowns trigger circumvention. Circumvention triggers takedown orders. The next app someone builds to survive a blackout will enter a world where governments have already practiced asking for its removal.