# Apple Pulls Bitchat From India App Store Under Government Order **Source:** https://glitchwire.com/news/apple-pulls-bitchat-from-india-app-store-under-government-order/ **Published:** 2026-10-03T14:04:39.915Z **Author:** Tech Desk ยท Glitchwire **Categories:** Tech, Policy ## Summary Jack Dorsey posted the official removal notice on X. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology cited Section 69A of India's IT Act. ## Article Apple has removed [Bitchat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitChat), Jack Dorsey's Bluetooth mesh messaging app, from its India App Store following a takedown demand from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). Dorsey posted a screenshot of the removal notice to X on October 3 with the caption: "government of India officially removes bitchat from the App Store." The notice Apple sent to Dorsey reads in part: > We are writing to notify you that your application, per demand from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), will be removed from the India App Store because it includes content that is illegal in India, which is not in compliance with the App Review Guidelines. Apple's letter does not identify what specific content in the app the Indian government considers illegal. The removal was ordered under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, a provision that empowers the central government to block public access to digital information. ## The Law Behind the Order Section 69A is the statutory route India uses to order takedowns of apps, websites, and online content. The provision carries procedural safeguards that its critics say are routinely ignored. In February 2026, India's Supreme Court affirmed that only the central government, not magistrates or criminal courts, may order content blocked under this section. "The Blocking Rules, 2009 constitute a self-contained code incorporating procedural safeguards," the court held. MeitY has invoked Section 69A repeatedly this year. In June, the ministry temporarily blocked Telegram in India until June 22 ahead of the NEET-UG medical entrance re-examination. That order also disabled Telegram's message-editing feature until June 30 after authorities alleged the platform was being exploited to fabricate paper-leak evidence. ## A Different Path Than July The App Store removal follows an earlier, unsuccessful attempt to shut down Bitchat through different legal channels. On July 23, 2026, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), operating under the Ministry of Home Affairs, issued a takedown notice to GitHub directing it to remove three Bitchat repositories within three hours. That order cited Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act, which governs intermediary safe-harbor protections, rather than the Section 69A blocking mechanism. The [Internet Freedom Foundation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Freedom_Foundation), an Indian digital rights organization based in New Delhi, condemned that July order as "unconstitutional and authoritarian." The group argued that I4C had bypassed the statutory blocking procedure that carries judicial review. The notice characterized Bitchat's architecture itself as the problem, stating that the app "significantly impedes lawful interception, attribution, and investigation by law enforcement agencies." At the time, Dorsey posted on X: "the government of India does not like technologies like bitchat and wants it taken down." GitHub did not publicly confirm compliance with the three-hour deadline, and reports conflicted on whether the repositories were removed. The code continued to circulate through more than 3,000 public forks that existed before the order. ## Why Bitchat Matters to Protesters The timing of both the July and October actions coincides with ongoing political unrest. During the July 2026 Jantar Mantar protests in New Delhi, where demonstrators gathered over alleged examination irregularities, authorities imposed mobile internet shutdowns around protest sites. Bitchat downloads surged in response. Between July 17 and 23, India accounted for roughly 85 percent of the app's global downloads, compared to about 1 percent over the previous 30 days. Daily active users in India peaked above 330,000 on July 23. Bitchat is a peer-to-peer messaging application that operates via Bluetooth mesh networks, requiring no internet connection, cellular service, or user registration. Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and CEO of [Block Inc.](https://www.forbes.com/profile/jack-dorsey/), announced the app in July 2025, describing it as a weekend project built to learn about mesh networking, encryption, and store-and-forward messaging. The app also integrates with the [Nostr protocol](/news/the-402-protocol-is-finally-doing-what-http-always-promised-letting-machines-pay/) for geographic chat rooms when internet connectivity is available. Messages on Bitchat are encrypted end-to-end using the Noise Protocol, the same cryptographic framework used by Signal and WhatsApp. The app stores messages only on devices, with no central servers, and includes a panic mode that erases all data when the user taps the logo three times. This design makes Bitchat useful during [infrastructure failures or government-ordered blackouts](/news/twenty-five-years-after-911-the-surveillance-state-has-become-the-air-we-breathe/), which is precisely what draws regulatory attention. China removed Bitchat from its App Store in April 2026 at the request of the Cyberspace Administration of China. According to Apple's notice to Dorsey, the TestFlight version of Bitchat will also be unavailable for testing in India, and public TestFlight links will no longer function for Indian users. The app remains available in other territories where it was distributed through App Store Connect. MeitY did not specify which provision of Section 69A applies to Bitchat, nor did the ministry identify what content in the app violates Indian law. The notice directs developers to contact MeitY directly for clarification. --- **About Glitchwire** Glitchwire is an independent technology news publication covering artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, science, security, policy, finance, and the broader technology industry. 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