{
  "id": 556740,
  "title": "The offline messaging apps challenging internet shutdowns",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/11/the-offline-messaging-apps-challenging-internet-shutdowns",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-11T11:01:34.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Rest of World",
    "slug": "restofworld-2",
    "url": "https://restofworld.org/2026/india-github-geoblock-jack-dorsey-bitchat/?_bhlid=8a64b3275f9fa698fef73ce534085dd27db9d488"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Governments striving to curb protesters are finding it difficult to suppress offline messaging applications. India's approach to Jack Dorsey's Bitchat, a 2025 launch, indicates a possible new phase in this confrontation. Bitchat enables communication among nearby phones via Bluetooth, even when mobile networks or internet connections are down. The app gained prominence after Indian authorities halted internet access during student protests in New Delhi. In response, the Indian government attempted to obstruct access to the app's source code on GitHub, a Microsoft-backed platform for developers to manage and share code. While India has previously blocked apps from official app stores for various reasons, blocking an open-source software repository represents a new tactic, according to digital rights advocates. This development underscores a growing hurdle for governments. Worldwide, state-imposed internet blackouts have emerged as a key weapon against protests and independent journalism during political crises. These actions not only silence dissent but also hinder real-time reporting and avoid international scrutiny of official wrongdoing. Applications designed to operate offline exacerbate these challenges. \"The decentralized architecture of the app means that there is no central server or database and therefore there cannot be a central kill switch,\" explains Namrata Maheshwari, senior policy counsel and encryption policy lead at Access Now. \"Downloaded apps will continue to function as long as they are within the physical proximity required for the mesh network to operate.\" Bitchat achieved an all-time peak of 430,000 daily active users in India on July 26, with 74% of its global downloads coming from India between July 20 and July 26. During Hong Kong's 2014 protests, FireChat served as a popular means of communication for demonstrators without mobile networks. More recently, Bitchat downloads surged during protests in Myanmar, Nepal, Uganda, Madagascar, and Iran. The app also topped Apple's App Store in Jamaica amid power outages during a hurricane last year. India's response, however, extended beyond targeting the app itself. On July 23, the government instructed GitHub to disable access to three Bitchat repositories in India within three hours. Jack Dorsey commented on X on July 24, sharing the government's order: \"The government of India does not like technologies like Bitchat and wants it taken down.\" Blocking an entire platform using this method is neither necessary nor proportional. Maheshwari told Rest of World, \"If the mere possibility of a technology being misused sufficed to block it entirely, we would have no email services, search engines, AI chatbots, or even Microsoft Office.\" She emphasized that anonymous communication and decentralized architecture, as used by Bitchat, are not unlawful and are essential for privacy and autonomy. She argued that reliable connectivity during unrest enables individuals to communicate with loved ones, document events, access emergency services, and avoid misinformation. Ironically, the government's order may have enhanced the app's visibility. Without this notice to GitHub, then to Bitchat, and Jack Dorsey's subsequent tweet, the app would have remained within the tech policy circle. Instead, it became a broader conversation, leading many people to download it. At the time of publication, the repositories remained accessible in India and had been mirrored on decentralized platforms like Radicle and GitLawb, making them harder to eliminate entirely. The dispute over Bitchat occurs as India, with the world's second-largest internet user base, increasingly targets communication platform design rather than just the content they disseminate. In recent months, India has restricted apps for their inherent design, testing the limits of platform-wide restrictions. In June, the government temporarily banned the encrypted messaging app Telegram for a week, and the following month, it delayed the launch of WhatsApp's username feature, citing impersonation and fraud threats. \"Just because you don't like what the platform is doing as a function, can you use that as a reason for intervention?\" asks Prateek Waghre, a Bengaluru-based tech policy expert. \"That can be taken to an extreme end. Anything that enables communication can be used by two people to communicate something illegal. So where do you really draw the line on that?\"",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [
    "Bitchat enables communication offline via Bluetooth, even without internet.",
    "Indian government blocked Bitchat's source code on GitHub, a new tactic.",
    "Offline apps like Bitchat make it harder for governments to shut down communication."
  ],
  "editors_take": "Governments' efforts to curb protests by shutting down internet access are being challenged by offline messaging apps, which enable communication without mobile networks or internet connections, and are harder to block.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}