India orders takedown of Jack Dorsey’s bitcoin-linked messaging app Bitchat

India's cybercrime authority has ordered GitHub to remove repositories for Bitchat, an open-source Bluetooth mesh messaging app developed by Jack Dorsey. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), operating under the Ministry of Home Affairs, issued the notice on July 23, 2026, invoking Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act 2000 and giving GitHub a three-hour deadline to comply. The order stems from the app's use by NEET 2026 student protesters in New Delhi to communicate during internet suspensions around protest sites. Authorities cited the app's decentralized, registration-free design, which requires no internet, mobile network, or phone numbers, as significantly impeding lawful interception, attribution, and investigation. Jack Dorsey publicly disclosed the government's notice on X on July 24, stating that the Indian government "does not like technologies like Bitchat and wants it taken down." The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) immediately condemned the order, calling it unconstitutional and authoritarian, arguing that the notice misuses Section 79 of the IT Act and fails to identify specific unlawful content. The IFF also noted that deleting repositories does not remove already-downloaded apps, and Bluetooth mesh networks function offline. This action follows similar moves by other governments, including China's order for Apple to remove the app from its China App Store in April 2026, citing its potential for social mobilization. Bitchat has previously been used in protest situations in Madagascar, Uganda, Nepal, Indonesia, and Iran during internet disruptions.