GitHub was given just three hours by India's cybercrime agency to remove three repositories containing the code for Bitchat, an offline messaging app supported by Block CEO Jack Dorsey. The app’s ability to function during internet blackouts has made it a target amid ongoing protests in New Delhi.
Government Pushes Back Against Offline Messaging
India's Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, part of the Ministry of Home Affairs, issued the takedown order under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The affected repositories under the permissionlesstech account include the core Bitchat project, its Android build, and release files. The government warned GitHub that failure to comply could lead to criminal prosecution and loss of safe-harbor immunity.
What triggered the move isn’t any illegal content in the repositories but the app’s core function: enabling communication without internet access, even during government-imposed network shutdowns. Bitchat uses Bluetooth mesh technology to relay encrypted messages device-to-device across multiple hops. It also falls back on the Nostr protocol when internet access is available. The app requires no accounts or phone numbers, making it resistant to typical censorship.
Protests and Offline Communication
This crackdown coincides with student protests over exam-paper leaks at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. Authorities have repeatedly suspended mobile internet service around the protest site, including a blackout covering a 1.5-kilometer radius on July 23 from late afternoon to midnight. Protestors have turned to apps like Bitchat to communicate during these outages.
Digital rights groups such as the Internet Freedom Foundation condemned the takedown as "unconstitutional and authoritarian," pointing out that the legal provision invoked doesn’t authorize blocking under the Supreme Court’s Shreya Singhal ruling. They also criticized the extremely short deadline and nighttime timing as denying legal recourse. The IFF called on the government to withdraw the directive and disclose all takedown orders issued under the law.
Jack Dorsey himself shared the notice on X, noting that the Indian government simply "does not like technologies like Bitchat and wants it taken down." The post has attracted millions of views. As of now, the repositories remain accessible on GitHub, resisting the government’s order.
