India Orders Takedown of Dorsey’s Bitcoin-Linked Bitchat

Jack Dorsey said that India ordered GitHub to remove repositories tied to Bitchat, his open-source messaging application. The notice shared on X targeted three repositories and gave the platform three hours to disable access, putting Bitchat’s censorship-resistant design at the center of a government takedown demand.

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

— jack (@jack) July 24, 2026

Bitchat allows encrypted, registration-free communication through Bluetooth mesh networks without internet service, central servers or user accounts. The order said those features could obstruct lawful interception, attribution and investigations, while protest activity in Delhi has made offline communication tools increasingly relevant during connectivity restrictions.

The action targets Bitchat’s code repositories rather than conclusively removing the application from circulation. It remained unclear whether GitHub had complied, and open-source projects can be copied or hosted elsewhere. The next checkpoint is whether access is restricted inside India or more broadly, because the order now tests how far authorities can contain decentralized software after its code has been publicly distributed.

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