FOX FM

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@Galaxylife96 oiiiooooooo

[Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) @internetfreedom]

Statement : The removal of BitChat from the India App Store is unconstitutional. Section 69A permits the blocking of unlawful information, not of a messenger for working during internet shutdowns.

New Delhi, 3 October 2026

An Apple App Review notice published today by Jack Dorsey on X records that BitChat has been removed from the India App Store "per demand from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology", issued under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, on the ground that the application "includes content that is illegal in India". The notice adds that BitChat's TestFlight builds are no longer available for testing in India. It does not identify the content said to be illegal or the ground under Section 69A invoked. The blocking order has not been published. The Internet Freedom Foundation condemns the order and calls for its immediate publication and withdrawal.

BitChat relays end-to-end encrypted messages between nearby phones over Bluetooth mesh. It has no servers and hosts no content of its own. What travels through it is the private speech of its users, so the claim that the application "includes" illegal content is incoherent. The State's actual objection stands recorded in the notices the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre issued on 23 July 2026 to GitHub, Google and Apple against BitChat, Briar and Bridgefy which stated that such applications work even during internet shutdowns and hamper lawful interception, attribution and traceability. Those notices, issued under Section 79(3)(b) were reportedly withdrawn after public disclosure. The same end has now been pursued through Section 69A. The objection is to capability of an application, not to content it transmits. A citizen's ability to speak to another citizen while the State has switched the internet off is not a ground of restriction under Section 69A or Article 19(2) of the Constitution.

Section 69A survived constitutional scrutiny in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015) because of its safeguards which included the need for a reasoned, recorded order, committee review, and a hearing to the originator under Rule 8 of the Blocking Rules, 2009, which the Delhi High Court enforced in Tanul Thakur v. Union of India (2022). Further, Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India (2020) requires that orders restricting fundamental rights be published and adopt the least restrictive measure. However, it appears in this instance, each safeguard has been evaded. A secret order blocking an entire application, rather than any identified unlawful information, is the most restrictive and disproprotionate measure available. Further, the confidentiality claimed under Rule 16 cannot defeat the right to challenge an order, and the constitutionality of this blocking regime is itself pending consideration before the Supreme Court.

While removal from the App Store does not delete BitChat from phones, it stops new downloads and security updates, leaving existing users on unpatched versions, and it ends security testing in India through TestFlight. During the Jantar Mantar protests, when mobile internet was suspended and jammers were deployed, Bluetooth mesh messaging was a channel of last resort through which young people coordinated their safety. To our knowledge, Apple has removed BitChat on a government's demand in only one other country. This is in China, in April this year.

Our demands

1. MeitY must publish the blocking order, the ground invoked and the record of the committee's proceedings, and serve the developers with a copy and an opportunity of hearing.

2. The direction must be withdrawn. Any specific unlawful use must be met with targeted proceedings under due process, not the removal of a communications tool for everyone.

3. Apple must disclose the demand in its transparency reporting and notify its users in India, and must state whether parallel directions have been received in respect of other app stores.

4. The secrecy of the blocking regime must end. The Blocking Rules, 2009 should be amended to require publication of orders and notice to originators, without awaiting the outcome of the pending constitutional challenge.

The Internet Freedom Foundation will file applications under the Right to Information Act seeking a copy of the order, and stands ready to assist the developers and affected users in India.

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@SUper_DumplinGG damn didnt expect this one

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@dotgokulism is that al faham???

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@_CAR00L_ YAAAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@FireBlueZ @EizenAnazaki character texture wise, endfield is one game which pretty much mogs everything in yhe market for phones imo. the way they handled skin and cloth materials are so fucking good, it looks better than a lot of AAA even

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@_petalite i use SSRI, they dont solve it, but fuck it does make me not think about suicide

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@GachaRuined @SkyDrifter25 bro you just described asian mobile gaming market 10 years before genshin was ever thought off.

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@GachaRuined @SkyDrifter25 There were some rare games in that, but all those failed miserably. Genshin is the first thing where the game is as high in quality as a pc/console game.

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@GachaRuined @SkyDrifter25 The issue with the last statment is, an industry cannot survive without money, even gaming industry. In pc, there are a lot of people willing to pay high to low for their pc games due to sheer quality of it. In mobile, games used to be either clickers or a evolution of it

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@GachaRuined @SkyDrifter25 and BOTH matters to the whole f2p mobile industry. cause the devs now put actual effort into their games instead of being another VN with gambling

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@GachaRuined @SkyDrifter25 Genshin is the one that mainly popularized 5050 and pity systems into gacha as a whole plus the whole quality shift of gacha games from 2d card money scams to actually fucking games. They did BOTH

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@GachaRuined @SkyDrifter25 The most popular gacha before genshin came out was fgo. You know when fgo added pity system into their game? 2022!
until then you could pull and may never get the character you needed

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@kysdalit @realchrisolin @Asmongold @Erundel In a perfect world, yes. But this world is FAR from perfect

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@Nuci_xp did somebody mention satisfactory???

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@Galaxylife96 me?

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@soh_toa chinese twitter is something else!

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@impo_sigmaWalk @frozen496 @Pirat_Nation i wouldn't call gow 2018 a lot more fun either. it was also about a very good story and immersion

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@NenuHanma i was reading through. NOT EVEN ONE SECOND LATER!

[FOX FM @FOXFM9]

@Galaxylife96 Its atleast gaming stuff. sometimes we have ability to play stuff