India orders GitHub to remove Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat repositories

India’s cybercrime authority has ordered GitHub to remove three repositories linked to Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat messaging app within three hours. Summary India ordered GitHub to remove three Bitchat repositories within a three-hour deadline. I4C cited surveillance risks linked to Bitchat’s anonymous, offline Bluetooth mesh network. Digital rights groups challenged the order’s legality and called it unconstitutional. According to a July 23 notice shared by Dorsey on X, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre directed the Microsoft-owned platform to disable access to Bitchat’s open-source code, Android application and release files. I4C operates under India’s Ministry of Home Affairs. The notice, numbered 11072601011432, cited Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, alongside Rule 3(1)(d) of the Information Technology Rules, 2021. Digital rights group Internet Freedom Foundation said the order also warned GitHub that noncompliance could expose it to a loss of legal protection and possible criminal proceedings. Dorsey made the previously unpublished directive public on July 24 as authorities restricted communications around an ongoing student protest in central New D...