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BitChat is a decentralised mesh messaging tool. It comes from a company founded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. The app builds a mesh network across nearby devices over Bluetooth, so messages hop from phone to phone.
Because of that design, BitChat keeps working with no internet connection at all. It is also fully open-source and anonymous. Users need no account and no real-name verification.
A Three-Hour Deadline From India
India’s cybercrime coordination centre, known as I4C, recently sent GitHub a formal notice. The order was blunt. Within three hours of receipt, GitHub had to block access to the BitChat repository inside India.
In effect, Indian users could no longer download the app directly from the repository. The government explained its reasoning plainly. BitChat enables anonymous communication without internet, phone numbers, or a central server.
According to the notice, that capability could obstruct lawful interception, identity attribution, and investigation by law-enforcement agencies.
GitHub’s Response Remains Unclear
So far, the outcome is uncertain. Nobody knows yet whether GitHub actually blocked Indian access as instructed. The company has issued no public statement.
Dorsey, however, spoke up. He posted a screenshot of the notice on X and said the Indian government dislikes technology like BitChat and wants the app removed entirely.
The Core Objection: Harder to Monitor
I4C operates under India’s Ministry of Home Affairs. The agency cited Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act and related platform rules. On that basis, it demanded a block on both the main BitChat repository and the BitChat Android repository.
The government’s concern centres on the architecture. BitChat lets users communicate peer-to-peer across a Bluetooth mesh network. It relies on no mobile network, no internet, and no central server.
Furthermore, it requires no registration, no phone-number verification, and no centralised logging. Consequently, the design sharply raises the difficulty of interception, tracking, and investigation.
A Broad List of Alleged Risks
The notice went further still. Such tools, it warned, could serve illegal assembly, violent protest, disinformation, radicalisation propaganda, and criminal conspiracy. They could also sustain communication during internet shutdowns.
India even linked BitChat to potential misuse by terrorist groups, organised crime, cybercriminals, and so-called anti-national elements.
Removing the Code Will Not Erase the App
One distinction matters here. India asked GitHub to handle the code repository and release files. It did not simply ask app stores to pull BitChat.
GitHub hosts most major open-source projects. Yet public open-source code is easy to fork, mirror, and redistribute. Therefore, blocking the main repository does not make the app disappear.
The government would need to do far more to succeed. It would have to restrict app stores, mirror sites, other download channels, and social-media sharing at the same time.
Absent that, blocking the repository merely adds friction for ordinary users. A few extra steps still lead them to the source code and compiled installers. In truth, wiping open-source code and installers off the internet entirely is impossible.
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