India has ordered GitHub to remove or disable access to BitChat’s code, putting the decentralized messaging project in the middle of a growing dispute over privacy, security, and government control.

The order, issued by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, or I4C, names three GitHub URLs connected to BitChat. They include the main repository, the Android repository, and an Android release page. GitHub was told to act within three hours of receiving the notice.

BitChat is built around Bluetooth mesh networking, allowing nearby devices to exchange messages without mobile data, internet access, or a central server. That is the part Indian authorities appear most concerned about.

In the notice, the government says the app can enable anonymous communication without user registration, phone-number verification, or centralized logging. It argues that the system makes it harder for police and other agencies to intercept messages, identify users, or obtain records during an investigation.

The order also claims a decentralized messaging platform could be used to evade surveillance or communicate during public disorder, riots, terrorism, organized crime, or internet shutdowns. It cites provisions of India’s Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The move does not appear to be a direct order to remove BitChat from phones. It is an order aimed at GitHub, where its code is hosted. But blocking the project’s repositories could still make it harder for developers to access, inspect, build, or distribute the app.

Jack Dorsey, who has backed decentralized technologies and is associated with BitChat, drew attention to the order in a post on X. “The government of India does not like technologies like bitchat and wants it taken down,” he wrote.

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

— jack (@jack) July 24, 2026

The notice was dated July 23, but it began spreading widely on July 24 after Dorsey’s post brought the matter to a much wider online audience in India and elsewhere too.

The Internet Freedom Foundation has already condemned the order, describing the blocking of BitChat’s code on GitHub as unconstitutional and authoritarian.

Statement : The blocking of BitChat's code on GitHub is unconstitutional and authoritarian.

New Delhi, 24 July 2026

The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) condemns the order issued by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), Ministry of Home Affairs, directing GitHub… pic.twitter.com/s3wdJEOPK7

— Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) (@internetfreedom) July 24, 2026

The case is likely to renew arguments over how far governments should go when technology makes private communication harder to monitor. Supporters of BitChat will see the order as an attack on open-source software and private messaging. Officials, meanwhile, are framing it as a public-safety issue.

For now, the key question is whether GitHub complies, challenges the order or limits access only within India. The notice gives the platform little time to decide.