BitChat: Features, Concerns, Legal Framework and I4C Action

Context

The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under Ministry of Home Affairs, directed GitHub to disable repositories hosting BitChat, citing concerns that the application could be misused to evade lawful restrictions and facilitate unlawful activities.

About BitChat

• Nature: A decentralised peer-to-peer messaging application, operating over Bluetooth mesh networks.
• Working: Enables communication without internet connectivity, central servers, phone numbers, or user registration, with nearby devices relaying messages across a mesh network.
  • Mesh Architecture: Each device functions as both a client and relay node, forwarding messages through multiple hops to extend communication range.
• Objective: To provide infrastructure-independent, censorship-resistant, and surveillance-resistant communication, particularly during internet outages or areas with limited connectivity.
• Connectivity: Operates through Bluetooth mesh networking, enabling communication during internet shutdowns, natural disasters, or in areas with limited connectivity.
• Privacy: Supports anonymous communication without centralized logging, making lawful interception and attribution difficult.
• Legal Framework
  • Section 79(3)(b), IT Act, 2000: Intermediaries may lose safe harbour protection if they fail to promptly remove unlawful content after government notification; Section 69A empowers the Central Government to block online content on grounds such as national security, public order, and prevention of incitement, following the prescribed legal procedure.

Concerns

The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) argued that the order targets the potential misuse of BitChat rather than specific unlawful content and may not satisfy the principle of proportionality laid down by the Supreme Court in Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India (2020).

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