India Orders GitHub to Remove Jack Dorsey's Bitchat App Amid 'Cockroach Janta Party' Protests in Delhi

The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre has ordered GitHub to remove Jack Dorsey's decentralized messaging app, Bitchat, giving the platform three hours to comply. The order comes amid massive Cockroach Janta Party youth protests in Delhi over an exam-paper leak scandal. After authorities suspended mobile internet around protest sites, demonstrators turned to offline Bluetooth mesh tools like Bitchat to coordinate. Officials argue the app's registration-free, serverless design thwarts lawful surveillance, while digital rights groups condemn the ban as unconstitutional.

GitHub takedown order for Bitchat

• ▪The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre's notice, dated July 23, 2026, gave GitHub a three-hour deadline to remove and disable access to the Bitchat repositories
• ▪Jack Dorsey shared a copy of the Indian government's takedown notice on the social media platform X on July 24, 2026
• ▪The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre ordered Microsoft subsidiary GitHub to remove three repositories hosting Jack Dorsey's decentralized messaging application, Bitchat.

CJP protests internet shutdowns

• ▪Demonstrators at the Jantar Mantar protest site turned to offline Bluetooth-based mesh messaging applications to coordinate after mobile internet services were suspended.
• ▪The Indian government suspended mobile internet services around Parliament and the Jantar Mantar protest site in New Delhi during the Cockroach Janta Party demonstrations
• ▪Tens of thousands of youth-led demonstrators under the Cockroach Janta Party banner have rallied in Delhi to protest a national exam-paper leak scandal

Bluetooth mesh network technology

• ▪Jack Dorsey released Bitchat as an open-source messaging application in July 2025
• ▪Bitchat routes encrypted messages directly between nearby smartphones over Bluetooth Low Energy mesh networks without relying on mobile networks, internet connectivity, or centralized servers
• ▪Bitchat is designed to relay bitcoin transactions offline, passing them phone-to-phone through a mesh network until a connected device broadcasts them to the network

Government legal justification concerns

• ▪The Internet Freedom Foundation condemned the Indian government's order as unconstitutional and authoritarian, stating it named no unlawful content and bypassed standard blocking procedures
• ▪The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre invoked Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act, 2000, and Rule 3(1)(d) of the 2021 IT Rules to order the removal of Bitchat
• ▪The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre's notice asserts that Bitchat violates Sections 43, 84B, and 84C of the IT Act, alongside Section 61 read with Sections 196 and 197 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Law enforcement investigation challenges

• ▪The Indian government warned that decentralized communication platforms can be exploited by anti-national elements, terrorist organizations, and criminals to coordinate unlawful assemblies and violent protests
• ▪The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre stated that Bitchat's registration-free, decentralized architecture significantly impedes lawful interception, attribution, and investigation by law enforcement
• ▪The Delhi Police are examining whether Bluetooth-based messaging applications were used by protesters during the Cockroach Janta Party demonstrations in Delhi.