An apparent attempt by the Indian government to take down the GitHub repositories for Jack Dorsey’s Bluetooth offline messaging app Bitchat has raised questions about the legal basis for targeting open source software because of how it works.
The Bitchat issue came to light after Dorsey was posted at X on Friday, what he said was a notice from India’s Ministry of Home Affairs directing GitHub to restrict access to three Bitchat repositories within three hours. The notice argues that the app’s anonymous, decentralized architecture could facilitate illegal activity and allow users to communicate during internet shutdowns, while making legitimate monitoring difficult.
The move comes as Indian authorities stricter restrictions on the internet after weeks of students protests in New Delhi for alleged exam paper leaks.
The demonstrations, known as the “cockroach” movement.have drawn thousands of young people calling for the resignation of India’s education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, with authorities also restricting marches to parliament. Local media was mentioned that some protesters download Offline messaging apps, including Bitchat and Briar, after internet services are suspended.
The order represents a new approach for the Indian government, which, prior to 2021, typically relied on Section 69A of the IT Act and the Blocking Rules of 2009 when it wanted content removed nationwide, according to Mishi Choudhary, founder of SFLC.in, an Indian digital rights legal advocacy group.
He told TechCrunch that the document resembled the format of recent government takedown notices, but the legal provisions it cites do not clearly authorize authorities to seek the takedown of an entire software project because of how it works, rather than any specific illegal content.
Unlike many government takedown requests, the document Dorsey shared does not identify specific posts, messages or repositories that contain illegal material. Instead, he argues that Bitchat’s ability to operate during internet shutdowns and without centralized servers could facilitate illegal activity.
The notice, dated July 23 and apparently issued by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Center (I4C), which operates under India’s Ministry of Home Affairs, said Bitchat allows users to communicate “even during network restrictions” and “internet terminations,” making it possible to “bypass legal restrictions” while preventing tracking, traceability and “illegal.”
In recent days, Bitchat has seen a surge in popularity in India. Market intelligence provider Sensor Tower shared data with TechCrunch that showed India accounted for about 85% of the app’s global downloads between July 17 and July 23, compared to about 1% in the previous 30 days. Bitchat has been downloaded more than 91,000 times in India in the past five days, after downloads jumped 32 times on July 19 from the previous day. The app’s daily active users in India also reached more than 330,000 on Thursday, the highest level recorded for the app in the country.
The request raises questions about open source software
The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), a digital rights advocacy group based in New Delhi; respondent the effectiveness of the apparent removal request.
“The order also fails on its own terms, as deleting a repository does not delete the app from any phone that carries it, and the grid continues to operate without servers. What the removal actually prevents is the control of the underlying code,” the team told X.
Raman Chima, global program director at the Association for Progressive Communications, a global digital rights network, told TechCrunch that the apparent notice went beyond targeting the messaging service itself, seeking to remove open source code from GitHub.
“It is [the Indian government] not only targeting the designated service provider, but they’re trying to say that open source development of these types of products … shouldn’t happen,” he said.
GitHub did not confirm whether it had received the document. The depots remained accessible from India on Friday. Asked about the apparent notice, the company communicated a link in the public repository of government takedown requests, which did not contain any recent requests related to Bitchat.
Namrata Maheshwari, senior policy adviser at digital rights group Access Now, told TechCrunch that blocking an offline messaging platform during internet restrictions risked turning the shutdowns into “a communication blackout” that violates fundamental rights. Protesters in any democracy have the right to communicate privately and coordinate peacefully, he said.
“When we receive a full takedown request from the government, we notify affected account owners and give them an opportunity to appeal,” Rose Coogan, the company’s chief online security counsel, said in a statement emailed to TechCrunch. “We publicly share every government takedown request we take action on.”
India’s home ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
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