China orders Apple to take down Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat

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Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has removed Bitchat, the decentralized messaging app created by co-founder and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, from its China App Store “because it includes content that is illegal in China.”

On April 6, Dorsey posted on X a message from Apple notifying him of the decision to remove the Bitchat app from its China store, “per the demand from the CAC (Cyberspace Administration of China).” The takedown covers both the standard App Store listing and the TestFlight channel, which allows users to beta test versions of apps before they are released on the store.

“According to the CAC, your app violates Articles 3 of the Provisions on the Security Assessment of Internet-based Information Services with Attribute of Public Opinions or Capable of Social Mobilization,” read the notice.

The provision in question was introduced in 2018 as part of a new regulation aimed at preserving “national security, social order, and the public interest” by strengthening security management of internet information services that have a so-called “public opinion nature,” or can facilitate social mobilization, such as mass protest, unrest, or dissent.

Bitchat reportedly crossed 3 million total downloads worldwide across platforms before the takedown, with more than 92,000 installs in the preceding week alone. Apple’s TestFlight version in China reportedly reached its 10,000-user limit before the takedown. This accelerating growth appears to have brought the app into conflict with Beijing’s strict digital surveillance infrastructure.

China’s ‘Great Firewall’—the combination of laws and technologies that regulates internet use in the country—works by intercepting and filtering internet traffic. China’s most popular messaging platform, WeChat, serves around 1.34 billion monthly active users among the country’s more than 1.4 billion citizens, but operates under strict government oversight and content-moderation requirements.

The majority of Western social media platforms are already blocked in China, including Facebook (NASDAQ: META), Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and Telegram, often because they do not allow government monitoring or censorship of messages.

An app for unrest

In September 2025, the app saw a surge in downloads in Madagascar during a three-week nationwide protest that culminated in the exile of President Andry Rajoelina and the installation of a military-led transitional government.

This followed protests in Nepal, where a social media ban that blocked the likes of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram turned Bitchat into the communication tool de jour of large-scale anti-corruption protests that erupted in early September. Downloads spiked from just over 3,300 to 48,781 in less than a week, making Nepal the app’s largest user base worldwide at the time, according to data from one open-source developer.

A similar story played out in Indonesia during protests that erupted in late August after lawmakers approved steep allowances for themselves. Thousands of Indonesians turned to Bitchat in the face of the subsequent government crackdown.

More recently, in January, Reuters reported that Bitchat had become a “lifeline” for Ugandans cut off from the internet ahead of elections that saw President Yoweri Museveni controversially re-elected for a record seventh term. Citing data from research firm Apptopia, the report said Bitchat shot to the top of Apple and Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) app stores in the country.

Data from the same source also showed a boost in Bitchat usage in Iran that same month, when the state shut down the internet amid mass unrest that saw roughly five million people take to the streets by January 9—Bitchat usage reportedly tripled in response.

The embracing of Dorsey’s Bitchat by such protest movements and unhappy citizens is exactly the kind of utility that Beijing wants to stymy to maintain control over digital communications in China.

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