Sharingan User

[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 Those notices, issued under Section 79(3)(b) were reportedly withdrawn after public disclosure.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.

[Sharingan User @_XAEA12_]

@ImJPramodY Pata nahi kaise chutiyo ke haath AI lag gaya. Pakand hi failayenge AI se bhi

[Prashant Bhushan @pbhushan1]

देखिए आर्टिफ़िशियल इंटेलिजेंस का कमाल!इतने तेजस्वी लोग हैं ये!

[Ritesh @Ritesh_hisss]

Wtf is this? 😭☠️

[Amit _ @Amit24TD]

Brahminism is deeply cruel to society.

It doesn’t matter whether someone is right-wing or left-wing; many Brahmins still want to preserve caste pride and casteism.

Just look at this Brahmin man,he believes in the Constitution, yet still wants casteism to remain. Lol🤡...

[The Times Of India @timesofindia]

A woman from the Dalit Mushar community, allegedly denied admission to a govt hospital in #UttarPradesh’s #Bhadohi because of her caste, gave birth in a public area outside the health facility, leading to dismissal of the on-duty doctor and action against others.

Deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak, who is also in-charge of health department, took serious note of the issue after a video of the incident was widely circulated online.

Read: https://t.co/aVh3yxAmrR
Catch every update on the TOI App 👉 https://t.co/ogFaRsUKyn

[Amnesty International @amnesty]

"The right to protest is not dependent on government approval. It is protected by the Indian Constitution and international human rights law."

Protesters in Delhi and Mumbai are demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation amid controversy over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. More than 130 million people have been deleted from electoral rolls since 2025.

The authorities have responded by imposing prohibition orders on the protests, arresting hundreds of peaceful protesters, and suspending internet and public transport services.

These actions are a blatant attack on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Those arbitrarily detained must be released at once, and authorities must guarantee their right to protest.

#HumanityMustWin

[Selection Commission Of India (Commentary) @ECISLEEPS]

Godse fíred three bùllets at Gandhi because he was against Gandhi's policies.

But he didn't fįre a single büllet against British, even though they were ruling India inhumanely.

Why were Godse & RSS against India's freedom struggle? Why didn't they never revolt against British?

[Lokesh Bag @lokeshbag67]

Okay.. you learn something new every day.

So this is how SC/ST funds are used

[The Sarcastic Jerk @The_Sarcastic_J]

Wah swami ji.

[STOIC 🇦🇱🇨🇴🗡️⚔️ @GunhaonKaDevta]

This is the basic difference between Whites of America and Brahmins in India.

Whites in America majorly recognise the historical wrongs that they have committed on Blacks.

Brahmins in India have no conscience. They are wired in such a way that they are numb to the suffering of Dalits.

[STOIC 🇦🇱🇨🇴🗡️⚔️ @GunhaonKaDevta]

Brahmin Intelligence saar 🤡

"We burn firecrackers so that we give direction to people who come on earth" 😭😭

[Dr. Prince Verma @PrinceV93789344]

क्योंकि हिंदू धर्म जैसा कुछ था ही नहीं, जो कुछ था ब्राह्मण धर्म था।
ब्राह्मण का …ब्राह्मण द्वारा …ब्राह्मण के लिए
जिसमे सब कुछ ब्राह्मण को शीर्ष पर स्थापित करने के लिए इसकी सुनियोजित सरंचना तैयार की थी।
इस धर्म ने ब्राह्मणों के लिए,
फ्री के बॉडीगार्ड - क्षत्रिय
फ्री के बैंक - वैश्य
फ्री के नौकर - शुद्र
तैयार किए गए थे, धीरे धीरे जब दूसरे वर्णों ने इधर उधर से हस्तक्षेप करना शुरू किया तो तब जाकर ये भूदेव से इंसान बने है। क्या तुमने सुना है, किसी धर्म में किसी एक जाति ने उस धर्म का एक देवता ख़ुद को बना लिया हो, ख़ुद की पूजा करवाते है, ग्रंथों में लिखकर। अपने ही पूजन की विधि लिखी है, ब्राह्मणों को खुश, उनका पूजन, उनका ध्यान कैसे रखा जाए ख़ुद ही अपने लिए लिखा है, सोचो 😂
हिंदू तो विदेशियों ने आकर नाम दिया है।

[Anubhav Singh @lucifer_damned]

India believes in SBI - Super Brahmin Intelligence - drinking cow urine, eating cow dung, researching if gold can be extracted from cow urine. In your mind that counts as “decolonization”.

[Prashant Pundir @kafkasbluebug]

sanghis will soon defeat zionists in playing the victim.

[Avici @sacredrain]

Twitter search history shows who was behind the manufactured anti-Indian racism online. It started in 2024, against the backdrop of the Israel-Palestine war that began in Oct 2023.

American Natzis & Muslims incl. Turks.

Primary trigger: Indian’s support for Israel.

[Emperor Shiva Pahalwar @TheShivaJatt]

Neem Karoli Baba, also known as Laxman Das Sharma, was born in 1900 — seven years before Bhagat Singh (1907) and four years after Bhai Kartar Singh Sarabha (1896).

If he was truly a great soul or an incarnation of Shri Hanuman Ji as his blind Puranic devotees claim, he could have become a freedom fighter like them.

The truth is that he was just an ordinary Puranic pakhandi Hindu baba who chose the most lucrative/lazy profession of all time — Babagiri — and spent his life fooling Hindu shers.

[Brig. Suryadev Singh @fatherofpaws]

There is something terribly wrong with BIMARU states. Started to feel that the IQ levels have gone too low since independence. Ye karne se pehle sochte bhi nahi hai ki chutiya dikhenge.

[Kanthaswamy Balasubramaniam @Kanthaswam80359]

According to Andhbhakths

I can't compare India with China because China is an autocracy

I can't compare India with Singapore because Singapore is too small

I can't compare India with US or UK because they are developed nations

So eventually I HAVE TO COMPARE INDIA TO PAKISTAN OR BANGLADESH and call India a Vishwaguru 😁😁😁

[shruti. @shruutie]

Movies like Hanuman Ansh are one reason superstition and a backward mindset persist in Indian society.

The film glorifies so called miracles of Lakshman Narayan Sharma, aka Neem Karoli Baba, that lack reliable historical evidence.

The story of him travelling without a ticket, being thrown off a train and then stopping it sounds absurd and is not backed by railway records.

It's high time to speak out against such misleading movies that pull society backward, not toward the future. We need change, not traditional garbage.