Internet Freedom Foundation calls India’s BitChat GitHub takedown order ‘unconstitutional’
India’s Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) condemned a government order requiring GitHub to remove BitChat repositories, calling it unconstitutional and a threat to free speech and open-source software. The cybercrime agency had ordered access to three repositories disabled within three hours, arguing the decentralized app could help bypass internet shutdowns, evade surveillance, and enable unlawful activity. IFF said the order was issued under the wrong legal provision, bypassing the formal blocking process and its safeguards, and urged the government to withdraw the notice and disclose all similar takedown orders. It also said the order failed to cite any unlawful content and instead targeted BitChat’s decentralized, Bluetooth-based design. BitChat sends encrypted messages between nearby devices without internet or centralized servers and has gained users during protests, disasters, and shutdowns.
