# Jack Dorsey slams Modi govt for Bitchat ban amid nationwide student protests > Source: > Published: 2026-07-24 13:46:09+00:00 Jack Dorsey, on Friday, slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government after Indian authorities ordered the takedown of BitChat’s open-source code on GitHub. Founded by Dorsey, Bitchat is a decentralized messaging app that allows peer-to-peer messaging via Bluetooth connectivity and without internet or cellular networks. Amid ongoing nationwide student protests over government exam leaks, GenZ protestors are trumping state-imposed internet blackouts with decentralized apps like BitChat. A cybercrime agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs in India asked Github to “remove and disable” access to the Bitchat code within days of the [dApp’s popularity amid protestors made it to the headlines](https://thecoinheadlines.com/tech-and-ai/as-student-protests-erupt-in-delhi-dorseys-bitchat-beats-internet-plug-outs/article-26900/). Sharing a copy of the order on X, [Dorsey](https://thecoinheadlines.com/crypto/jack-dorseys-block-launches-buzz-to-take-on-slack-and-github/article-26850/) sharply critized India for its action against the open-source decentralization app. India’s Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), condemning the action, claimed that the government had not published this notice to GitHub on public domains and later Dorsey outed it. “The government of india does not like technologies like bitchat and wants it taken down,” Dorsey, the founder of X, said. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) — that has ordered GitHub to initiatie the action said — BitChat “significantly significantly impedes lawful interception, attribution, and investigation”. “Intelligence inputs indicate that such decentralized communication platforms are capable of being exploited for coordinating unlawful assemblies, violent protests, dissemination of misinformation, radicalization, criminal conspiracies,” the order from the I4C said. “The absence of a centralized service provider also limits the ability of law enforcement agencies to obtain subscriber information, communication records, or timely assistance during investigations”. ## Did Bitchat just join the GenZs? In India, for nearly a month, students from across the country have been demanding a resignation from the union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Tens of thousands of Indian students are now standing in solidarity with 21 medical aspirants who committed suicides earlier this year owing to the leak of the NEET exam. Despite violent clashes with the ear gas, water cannons, and batons-equipped police and paramilitary forces, the protestors have refused to back down. In a rather GenZ-aligned move, Bitchat has copied its code from GitHub to GitLawb following India’s takedown order to Github. GitLawb is an open-source stack for the agent economy. People from India are asking BitChat to post the code to other similar platforms like Codeberg as well. *Source: X/ @BitchatMe_* ## India’s IFF hits back at Modi government The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), founded in 2016 with the intent of protecting the digital rights, user privacy, and free speech online in India, also slammed the government’s actions. It said, first the authorities order internet blackouts, then activate jammers to hinder cellular networks, and has now started clamping down on decentralized platforms as well. “The blocking of BitChat’s code on GitHub is unconstitutional and authoritarian,” the IFF said. “It threatens the platform with loss of safe harbour and criminal prosecution. No copy was published by the Government of India. The public learnt of it from a post by @jack, whose team develops BitChat,” the IFF noted. The IFF listed four grounds on which India’s order to GitHub is illegal. *Source: X/ @internetfreedom* The IFF has asked the government to withdraw its order, publish details of each takedown direction issued against tech platforms, and restore network connectivity around Jantar Mantar. The Indian government had neither responded to Dorsey nor to the IFF as of press time. Earlier last month, [Telegram founder Pavel Durov](https://thecoinheadlines.com/crypto/pavel-durov-slams-modi-govt-jio-for-telegram-block-before-neet-re-test/article-22513/) had also locked horns with the Indian government. At the time, the government was preparing to conduct the re-NEET exam after the first paper was leaked in May. The government had banned Telegram at the time, in a bid to prevent misinformation or leak-syndicates, to reach students. The platform, after all, lacks a localized compliance team to handle law enforcement requests in India. Durov, at the time had said, that the restriction on the platform is being levied not just for the NEET aspirants, but for over 150 million Telegram users in the country. ## From Jantar Mantar In conversation with The Coin Headlines, students protestors from Delhi’s historic Jantar Mantar protest area said, Bitchat has been their saving grace during Internet blackouts. They say, government-backed internet shutdowns are not letting them share real-time updates from the ground on social media — which could lead in organizational lapses and delay in news reaching othe protestors in and outside Delhi. For now, the timeline of the ongoing student protests in Delhi and other parts of India remains indefinite. The NEET paper leak is up for discussions in the ongoing monsoon session of the Parliament. Whether Pradhan will tender his resignation from the post of the education minister or not remains unclear as of now. After the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Surya Kant, recently referred to young Indian social and RTI activitists as “unemployed” and “cockroaches” — a satirical social media movement dubbed the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) amassed thousands of Indian youngsters who are now on the demanding side of the government. PM Modi has proposed a set-up of a fast-track court to address future paper leaks — but CJP remains undettered on its demands for the education minister’s resignation.