India just told GitHub to pull the plug on Bitchat, Jack Dorsey’s decentralized messaging app built on Bitcoin-inspired principles. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, known as I4C and housed under the Ministry of Home Affairs, issued the takedown order on July 23, giving GitHub a three-hour window to comply.
The stated concern: Bitchat could be used to organize unlawful gatherings and circumvent government-imposed internet shutdowns during public-order crises.
What Bitchat actually does
Dorsey first announced Bitchat on July 6, 2025. The app operates as a fully decentralized peer-to-peer encrypted messenger that uses Bluetooth mesh networking. There are no central servers. No user registration. No phone number required.
The enforcement action cited Section 79(3)(b) of India’s Information Technology Act, which allows the government to order intermediaries like GitHub to remove content once notified.
Dorsey posted on X that the “government of india does not like technologies like bitchat and wants it taken down.”
A pattern, not an isolated incident
India isn’t the first country to take aim at Bitchat. China compelled Apple to remove the app from its China App Store back in April 2026, citing violations of local content laws. Two of the world’s most populous nations have now moved against the same application within months of each other.
Targeting the GitHub repositories is a different kind of escalation. Removing an app from a store limits distribution. Removing source code from GitHub tries to kill the project at its root. Microsoft hasn’t publicly commented on whether it complied with the three-hour deadline.
Dorsey’s relationship with India has been complicated for years. When he ran Twitter, the company clashed repeatedly with Indian regulators over content moderation, account suspensions, and compliance with local IT rules. Bitchat, by design, removes the company from the equation entirely. There’s no company to subpoena, no server to seize, no moderation team to pressure.
The Bitcoin connection
Bitchat’s architecture is explicitly modeled on Bitcoin’s peer-to-peer principles. The mesh networking capability enables offline operation, and the project has been linked to explorations of offline Bitcoin payments through mesh networks.
India imposed a 30% tax on crypto gains and a 1% TDS on transactions, which significantly dampened trading volumes on domestic exchanges. The Bitchat takedown suggests that while India may tolerate crypto trading under heavy taxation, it draws a harder line on decentralized tools that challenge state control over communications.
What this means for investors
Investors watching this space should track two things closely. First, whether GitHub actually complied with the Indian order and whether the repositories remain accessible in other jurisdictions. Second, whether other countries follow India and China’s lead.