India Orders GitHub to Remove BitChat Code
The order targets Jack Dorsey’s encrypted mesh-messaging app as offline communication tools draw scrutiny during Delhi protests.
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Image Credit- Chetan Jha/ MIT Sloan Management Review India
The Indian government has directed GitHub to remove the source code and Android download page for Bitchat, an encrypted messaging app that can operate without internet or mobile networks, citing risks to national security and law enforcement investigations.
The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, or I4C, issued the notice to the Microsoft-owned software platform late on Thursday, 23 July, according to a copy of the notice published by Bitchat developer Jack Dorsey on X.
The order requires GitHub to remove or disable access to three addresses covering Bitchat’s main source-code repository, its Android repository and a page distributing Android installation files.
GitHub was given three hours to comply.
The notice was issued under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and Rule 3(1)(d) of the Information Technology Rules, 2021. These provisions govern the circumstances in which online intermediaries can lose legal protection for hosting third-party content after receiving notice of unlawful material.
According to the notice, Bitchat allows users to communicate anonymously without registration, phone numbers or centralized records. I4C said those features could make lawful interception, attribution and investigation difficult and create a risk of misuse by terrorist groups, organized crime networks and other actors considered a threat to national security.
The government has not publicly identified any message, user or criminal case involving Bitchat in the material released so far. The notice instead targets the application and its source code because of the way the technology works.
Bitchat was launched as an open-source project in July 2025 by Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter, now known as X, and chief executive of payments company Block.
It uses Bluetooth Low Energy to connect nearby phones directly and relay messages through other devices in a mesh network.
A message can move across several devices before reaching its intended recipient, allowing communication beyond the normal Bluetooth range when enough users are nearby. The system does not require a telecom network or central messaging server.
Bitchat also supports internet-based communication through the decentralized Nostr protocol, according to its GitHub documentation.
Developers said the app does not require accounts, phone numbers or persistent user identifiers and offers end-to-end encryption for private messages.
The Android repository, however, carries a warning saying the software has not undergone an external security review, may contain vulnerabilities and should not yet be relied on for sensitive communications.
The order came during youth-led demonstrations in Delhi over alleged examination irregularities and the handling of paper leaks. Mobile internet services were suspended in parts of central Delhi on Thursday, affecting areas around the main protest site at Jantar Mantar.
Some news reports and social media accounts said protesters had downloaded Bitchat and other mesh-network applications to communicate during internet restrictions.
The government notice published online does not expressly refer to the Delhi demonstrations or identify protest activity as the basis for the direction.
The order raises a broader question about whether software can be restricted because its architecture makes surveillance more difficult, even when the government has not publicly tied the code itself to a specific unlawful act.
Dorsey brought the order into public view on Friday by posting images of the notice on X.
“The government of India does not like technologies like bitchat and wants it taken down,” he wrote.
The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), a Delhi-based digital rights group, described the order on X as unconstitutional and authoritarian. It argued that Section 79(3)(b) sets conditions for intermediary liability but does not give government agencies an independent power to block content.
The group said the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in *Shreya Singhal v Union of India* limited the provision to situations involving a court order or a valid government notification connected to specific unlawful acts.
IFF also questioned whether the notice adequately identified illegal content, rather than objecting to the capabilities of the software as a whole.
The government’s position, as set out in the notice, is that Bitchat’s design creates a serious operational problem for law enforcement. With no central operator holding account records or message logs, agencies cannot obtain information in the same way they might from a conventional messaging service.
That difficulty is not unique to Bitchat. Peer-to-peer systems, encrypted applications and decentralized networks are designed to reduce reliance on central service providers. The same characteristics can protect communications during disasters, network failures and government shutdowns, while also complicating criminal investigations.
Bitchat’s developers explicitly promote the service as useful when internet access is blocked, overloaded or unavailable. Its Google Play listing says the app works entirely over Bluetooth mesh networks and requires no registration, phone numbers or tracking. The listing remained accessible in India on Friday and showed more than one million downloads.
The application also remained listed on Apple’s App Store. Its main GitHub repositories were accessible when checked on Friday, indicating that GitHub had either not completed the requested action or had not imposed a global restriction.
GitHub had not posted the Bitchat notice in its public repository of government takedown requests by the time of publication. The company says it publishes government notices after they lead to content removal and generally seeks to restrict access only within the jurisdiction concerned when possible.
GitHub’s policy says a complete government request must come from an official agency, identify illegal content and specify the legal basis for treating it as unlawful. The company also says affected users are notified and allowed to appeal.
