The removal of the offline messaging application Bitchat from Apple’s App Store and Google Play in India, on directions from the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) extends a pattern of government overreach curbing citizens’ rights. Apple said the Jack Dorsey-developed app was removed following a government notification that cited content “that is illegal” in India and “not in compliance with the App Review Guidelines”. Neither the government nor Apple has said what the illegal content is. The ministry issued directions for the takedown under Section 69(A) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which requires apps to follow all legal requirements in any location where they are offered.

The timing of the MeitY order makes it clear that it is targeted at the ongoing protests held by political parties and youth groups against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. Bitchat is an open-source, Bluetooth-driven messaging app that can work without the internet, allowing the exchange of end-to-end encrypted messages. Protesters under the banner of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) had, during their Jantar Mantar agitation in July, used Bitchat to communicate after the government shut down the internet. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, then ordered platforms to remove repositories hosting the application. The I4C then said the app created a substantial risk of misuse by anti-national elements and organised criminal groups. It raised concerns over the possibility of such decentralised communication platforms being used for “coordinating unlawful assemblies, violent protests, dissemination of misinformation, radicalisation, criminal conspiracies, and other activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India”.

With its latest order, the MeitY has adopted an increasingly familiar line of State restriction on rightful expression. The blocking order has not been made public. Advocacy groups have rightly highlighted that the notice does not specify the contentious content that led to the order and that Section 69(A) does not allow the outright removal of applications. The move should be read along with voices from within the establishment defending the embattled CEC in the row over the implementation of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The takedown will make communication among the protesters and activists difficult, effectively denying them their rights to free speech, free mobility, and peaceful assembly. The protests have been peaceful, and enabling communication among the protesters cannot be a ground for curtailing free speech. The ministry’s order is unconstitutional and should be withdrawn. (Source: DH)