India's going after Bitchat — the encrypted app that grew on protesters

India's government is moving against Jack Dorsey's Bitchat, the offline messaging app that lets people text over short-range radio when there's no internet. It caught on fast in New Delhi as a tool during protests — exactly the kind of thing authorities don't love. Now there's a legal fight brewing about whether the government can actually shut it down, or whether the app's offline design makes it harder to control than a regular app on an app store.

The story is less about Dorsey and more about what happens when communication tools are built for the streets. Bitchat doesn't need a signal, which is why it spread among people who needed to coordinate when everything else went dark. The government's move signals a broader pattern: when the state can't reach you through a server, it tries to reach you through a court.

Why this matters for us: encrypted, offline tools are the kind of infrastructure our communities actually use when the internet gets throttled or the cops show up — this case could set precedent on whether the government can target them by name.