Bluetooth messaging application Bitchat, extensively used by protesting students during the ongoing NEET paper leak agitation amid internet curbs, was on Friday sent a removal notice by the government.Home ministry’s cybercrime arm, the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), has ordered Microsoft subsidiary GitHub to remove Bitchat, according to the notice received by it.The Tribune had first broken the news on the use of this app by young protestors at Jantar Mantar during the ongoing agitation amid a ban on internet services.Related news: CJP protest: How an offline messaging app helped Gen-Z protesters at Jantar Mantar evade jammers”The Government of India does not like technologies like Bitchat and wants it taken down,” said the app’s developer and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Friday in an X post, sharing a copy of the notice dated July 23.”The application’s design, which enables communication even during network restrictions, creates a substantial risk of misuse by anti-national elements, terrorist organisations, organised criminal groups, and cybercriminals seeking to evade lawful detection and continue communication despite legally imposed restrictions,” the I4C notice mentioned.”Intelligence inputs indicate that such decentralised communication platforms are capable of being exploited for coordinating unlawful assemblies, violent protests, dissemination of misinformation, radicalisation, criminal conspiracies, and other activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State, public order, and for facilitating the commission of cognizable offences,” the notice added further.It further pointed out that the app enables communication even during network restrictions and creates a substantial risk of misuse by anti-national elements, terrorist organisations, organised criminal groups and cyber criminals seeking to evade lawful detection and continue communication despite legally imposed restrictions.While giving reference to Bitchat, I4C said that the content hosted or published by the GitHub intermediary platform is prohibited by law or being used to commit an unlawful act.I4C said that it has identified multiple applications as communication platforms capable of establishing decentralised peer-to-peer messaging over Bluetooth mesh networks without relying on mobile networks, internet connectivity, or centralised servers.”The application enables anonymous communication without mandatory user registration, phone number verification, or centralised logging of communications. The technical architecture of the application significantly impedes lawful interception, attribution and investigation by law enforcement agencies,” the notice said further.The notice comes after several users participating in a protest organised by the Cockroach Janata Party at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, were observed using Bluetooth-based messaging apps after the government imposed temporary restrictions on internet services around the protest site.According to I4C, since communications occur directly between nearby devices through a decentralised mesh network, the platform can be misused to evade lawful surveillance, facilitate anonymous coordination, and circumvent lawful restrictions imposed by competent authorities during situations involving public disorder, riots, terrorism, organised crime or internet shutdowns.