IFF says govt order to GitHub on BitChat unconstitutional, demands its withdrawal

Digital rights group Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) called the government order to GitHub to remove BitChat repositories unconstitutional and authoritarian.

The order, issued by Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs, gave GitHub three hours to disable three BitChat repositories or lose safe harbour protection and face criminal prosecution.

IFF argued the order used Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act and Rule 3(1)(d) of IT Rules 2021 instead of the blocking framework under Section 69A, which requires procedural safeguards like recorded reasons and hearing opportunity.

The order did not identify specific unlawful content but objected to BitChat's Bluetooth mesh networking capability for communication during internet shutdowns.

IFF demanded withdrawal of the notice, saying anticipating potential misuse is not a sufficient legal basis and the three-hour compliance window denied GitHub meaningful legal recourse.