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Newslaundry
Newslaundry
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Pratik Sinha

Apple, Google remove Bitchat in India on govt order: Those determined to bypass it will, the ordinary user gets locked out

Google Apple Bitchat India Jack Dorsey Internet App Store Google Play MeitY Twitter Inc.

Bitchat, the offline messaging app developed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has been removed from both Apple’s App Store and Google Play in India following blocking directions from the Union ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY). Its website has also become inaccessible across several Indian internet service providers.

Dorsey made the App Store removal public in a post on X on Saturday, October 3, sharing a screenshot of a notice from Apple’s App Review team. According to the notice, the app was removed “per demand from the Union ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY)” because it “includes content that is illegal in India”. Apple has also blocked TestFlight testing of the app in India. The notice cited Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, but did not say what the illegal content is, or which of the grounds listed in Section 69A was invoked. The same day, TechCrunch found that the app could no longer be downloaded from Google Play in India.

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