I4C told GitHub to remove Dorsey's Bitchat during Delhi protests
India
Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) just told GitHub to take down Jack Dorsey's Bitchat app repositories.
This move came on July 23, right as the Cockroach Janata Party protests were happening in Delhi, and mobile internet was temporarily suspended across parts of central Delhi.
Bitchat Bluetooth messages hard to trace
Officials are worried Bitchat could be used for illegal activity since it lets people chat directly over Bluetooth; no mobile network or central server is needed, making messages tough to trace.
Intelligence reports flagged that it might help organize protests or spread misinformation, so GitHub had just three hours to block all related code.
Decentralized apps like this are definitely getting more attention from authorities these days.