India orders takedown of Jack Dorseys bitcoin-linked messaging app Bitchat

WikiBit|2026-07-24

Extrait:India's cybercrime agency, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, ordered GitHub to remove three repositories for Bitchat, Jack Dorsey's decentralized offline messaging app, citing its anonymous, registration-free design that impedes lawful investigation. The app, which uses Bluetooth mesh networks to relay encrypted messages without internet or centralized logging, has been adopted by Delhi protesters to coordinate during internet shutdowns amid exam scandal demonstrations. The notice gave GitHub a three-hour deadline under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act. It remained unclear whether GitHub complied, and Bitchat stayed available on major app stores as of Friday, with experts noting open-source code is often mirrored beyond a single platform.

Summary

India‘s cybercrime agency has ordered GitHub to take down repositories for Bitchat, Jack Dorsey’s offline messaging app, as Delhi protesters use mesh-network tools to evade repeated internet shutdowns.
Authorities say Bitchats decentralized, registration-free design thwarts lawful interception and investigation, even as demonstrators rely on it and similar Bluetooth mesh apps to coordinate during exam scandal protests.
It was unclear whether GitHub complied within the three-hour deadline, and the app remained available on major app stores Friday, with experts noting that open-source code is often mirrored beyond a single platform.

India's top cybercrime watchdog has ordered GitHub to take down Bitchat, the offline messaging app built by Block chief executive and bitcoin advocate Jack Dorsey, as anti-government protesters in Delhi adopt mesh-networking tools to communicate through repeated internet shutdowns.

the government of india does not like technologies like bitchat and wants it taken down pic.twitter.com/gjzMg1NGCi

— jack (@jack) July 24, 2026

The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, part of the Home Ministry, issued the order late Thursday under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act, naming three GitHub repositories tied to Bitchat and giving the platform three hours to disable access.

The notice, reviewed by CoinDesk, says the app enables anonymous communication without registration, phone numbers or centralized logging, and that its architecture “significantly impedes lawful interception, attribution, and investigation by law enforcement agencies.”

Bitchat is a decentralized messaging app that relays encrypted messages between phones over Bluetooth mesh networks, requiring no internet, servers or accounts. Dorsey released it as open-source software in July 2025.

Bitchat is built to relay bitcoin transactions offline, passing them phone to phone through the mesh until a device with connectivity broadcasts them to the network, a design meant to keep payments alive during blackouts, disasters or state-imposed shutdowns.

Avertissement

Les opinions exprimées dans cet article représentent le point de vue personnel de l'auteur et ne constituent pas des conseils d'investissement de la plateforme. La plateforme ne garantit pas l'exactitude, l'exhaustivité ou l'actualité des informations contenues dans cet article et n'est pas responsable de toute perte résultant de l'utilisation ou de la confiance dans les informations contenues dans cet article.