NEW DELHI: As the standoff between student protesters and the central government continues, authorities have cracked down on the digital tools being used by demonstrators. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), operating under the Ministry of Home Affairs, has formally directed the Microsoft-owned developer platform GitHub to remove repositories associated with ‘Bitchat,’ an open-source Bluetooth messaging application championed by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
Bypassing Internet Blackouts
The takedown notice, issued on July 23, 2026, was triggered after participants in the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protests at Jantar Mantar began using the app to circumvent temporary mobile internet suspensions.
Unlike traditional messaging platforms, Bitchat operates on a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) mesh network. This decentralized peer-to-peer architecture allows phones to relay messages directly to nearby devices without requiring mobile data, internet connectivity, a centralized server, or even a verified phone number. During the recent internet blackouts around Central Delhi, protesters relied heavily on the app to maintain communication and organize their movements.
Jack Dorsey and Digital Rights Advocates React
In its official notice, the I4C argued that Bitchat’s offline, serverless design “significantly impedes lawful interception, attribution, and investigation by law enforcement agencies”. The agency claimed that such untraceable, decentralized tools could easily be exploited to coordinate unlawful assemblies and spread misinformation. The government invoked Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act and gave GitHub a strict three-hour deadline to remove three specific repositories hosting the app’s code.
Jack Dorsey publicly shared the government order on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday morning, adding the blunt commentary: “The government of India does not like technologies like Bitchat and wants it taken down”.
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Digital rights organizations have fiercely condemned the move. The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) immediately labeled the takedown notice as “unconstitutional and authoritarian”. The IFF argued that the government is misusing IT regulations to block citizens from speaking to one another during state-mandated internet shutdowns. The organization has demanded the immediate withdrawal of the GitHub order and full restoration of internet connectivity around the Jantar Mantar protest site.