Apple removes Bitchat from India App Store on IT ministry's direction
Apple has pulled Jack Dorsey's messaging app Bitchat from the App Store in India at the request of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Dorsey's post showed.
Jack Dorsey's messaging app Bitchat is in the news again after tech company Apple decided to remove it from the App Store in India. The step was taken on the directions of the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
On October 3, Dorsey shared on his X account a screenshot of a message sent by Apple. In it, Apple's App Review team said the decision to remove Bitchat from the Indian App Store had been taken at the demand of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. According to Apple, the government, citing content considered illegal in India, had directed that the app not be made available in the country.
Apple made it clear that Bitchat will remain available in other countries, but it has now been removed from the App Store in India. Not only that, the TestFlight version of the app will also not be usable in India. TestFlight is used to test beta versions of apps. According to Apple, the ministry directed the removal of Bitchat from the App Store in India under Section 69A of the IT Act.
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey had launched Bitchat, a messaging app that allows messages to be sent without the internet. The app's special feature is that devices available nearby can be connected to one another through a Bluetooth network. The app was widely discussed for a time.
Bitchat works quite differently from other common messaging apps. It does not depend on an internet connection or on any central server. The app uses Bluetooth-based mesh networking, so nearby devices can connect to one another and relay messages onward.
In July, a CJP protest was held at Jantar Mantar. With the internet shut down at the time, the protesters used Bitchat to stay in touch with one another. For this reason the app had come under government scrutiny earlier too, but it was later made available again.
Now, on October 2, the internet was shut down for 12 hours within a 1.5-km area around Jantar Mantar. Demonstrations were also held by CJP in Delhi and Mumbai. Apple has since decided to remove Bitchat from the Indian App Store.
