New Delhi, Oct. 3 -- Bitchat, the offline messaging app backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, can no longer be downloaded from Apple's App Store in India. Apple acted on a legal demand from the Union IT ministry, MeitY.

Dorsey made the removal public on 3 October, posting on X a screenshot of the message Apple's App Review team sent the developer. The notice said the government had asked for the app to be taken down under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, on the ground that it carried content illegal in India. It did not say what that content was, nor did it explain why the provision applied.

Apple said the app remains available in every other country where the developer has listed it. In India, the TestFlight ver...