Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat disappears from app stores in India after government order
Bitchat, Jack Dorsey’s decentralized messaging app designed to work without an internet connection, has disappeared from Apple and Google’s app stores in India, months after New Delhi first sought to restrict access to the open-source software.
Dorsey said Saturday that the Indian government had ordered Apple to remove Bitchat from its App Store in the country. In a notice from Apple that Dorsey posted on X, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued the demand under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, the country’s primary legal provision for government-ordered online blocking.
Apple’s notice said Bitchat would remain available on its App Store outside India. However, access to the app through its TestFlight beta-testing service would also be blocked in the country.
Bitchat was also no longer available for download through Google Play in India when TechCrunch checked on Saturday. Bitchat’s website was also inaccessible across various internet service...
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