The Indian government has asked Github to remove repositories hosting Bitchat, the Bluetooth messaging app developed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. This comes amid the ongoing protests led by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) in Delhi where Bluetooth-based apps are reportedly being used to communicate among protestors after the suspension of mobile internet services.
“The Government of India does not like technologies like Bitchat and wants it taken down,” said the app’s developer and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Friday in an X post, sharing a copy of the notice dated July 23.
According to the notice, the government has invoked Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and Rule 3(1)(d) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, directing GitHub to disable access to three Bitchat repositories within hours. These include both the main project repository and its Android version.
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The order describes Bitchat as “a communication platform capable of establishing decentralized peer-to-peer messaging over Bluetooth mesh networks without relying on mobile networks, internet connectivity, or centralized servers.” It argued that the app’s architecture “significantly impedes lawful interception, attribution, and investigation by law enforcement agencies.”
The notice also said that “such decentralized communication platforms are capable of being exploited for coordinating unlawful assemblies, violent protests, dissemination of misinformation, radicalization, criminal conspiracies, and other activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State, public order, and for facilitating the commission of cognizable offences.”
The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) condemned the order, saying the blocking of Bitchat’s code on Github is “unconstitutional and authoritarian.”
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Bitchat was launched last year, as an open-source messaging app designed to work without mobile networks, Wi-Fi, phone numbers or centralized servers. Instead, it uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to create a mesh network, allowing nearby smartphones running the app to relay encrypted messages from one device to another. Messages can travel further as more users join the network, by hopping across multiple devices without passing through telecom networks or central servers.
Unlike other communication apps like Whatsapp, Signal, and Telegram, Bitchat users do not need to create an account or connect to the internet. Dorsey, who developed the app, has reportedly been a vocal supporter of decentralized social media through Bluesky, another social platform he co-founded before stepping down from its board last year.