We have not been notified by Indian government regarding ban: Briar messaging app

A petition challenging these orders is also lodged at the Kerala High Court, where the petitioners have accused the Indian government of violating freedom of speech and expression

Decentralised, end-to-end encrypted messaging platform Briar, which was recently banned by the Centre along with other similar apps for allegedly being used by terror groups, has neither been notified by the Indian government nor Google regarding the development, a company spokesperson told Moneycontrol.

Earlier, it was reported that 14 messaging applications were banned in India under Section 69A of the IT Act. The ban was implemented based on the recommendation of intelligence agencies, as these apps were allegedly being used by terror groups. However, no order of any such directive has been made publicly available, raising questions over transparency and natural justice, digital rights group Software Freedom Law Centre opined.

Briar has over one million downloads on the Google Play Store and offers peer-to-peer communications with no centralised servers and little reliance on external infrastructure. Briar claims that the app is designed to be used by journalists and activists.

"The app is designed to be used by activists and journalists to protect their privacy and freedom of expression, but like many technologies, it can potentially be used by anyone, including those whose actions we would not wish to support," the spokesperson said.

Currently, a petition challenging these orders is also lodged at the Kerala High Court, where the petitioners have accused the Indian government of violating freedom of expression and speech, as well as the right to free trade and profession, and have sought to quash these orders.

"We've read reports in the press that Briar is one of several apps blocked in India by order of the government. However, we haven't received a copy of the blocking order or any other communication from the government," a Briar spokesperson said.

"Google hasn't notified us about the app being removed from Google Play. The Google Play dashboard shows that Briar was still being downloaded in India as of May 18, so it appears the blocking order has not yet come into effect," he added.

Sources said that de-listing apps after government orders take time to implement. Moneycontrol has reached out to Google and the Ministry of Home Affairs for more clarity on the subject, and the article will be updated when a response is received.

Other apps that were reported to have been blocked under the direction of the Union government include UK-based decentralised messaging platform Element, Germany-headquartered ‘encrypted chat app’ Crypviser, Enigma (developed by Incubeta UK), Switzerland-based SafeSwiss, Amazon Web Services-owned Wickr Me, US-headquartered MediaFire, Canada-based Nandbox and so on.

Moneycontrol has reached out to all the other messaging platforms that have reportedly been blocked, and their responses are awaited.

How does Briar work?

"The Briar app is completely decentralised - messages are delivered
directly from the sender's device to the recipient's device in a
peer-to-peer fashion," the spokesperson said.

He added that Briar developers neither operate servers nor have any access to the content or metadata of users' communication.

"Nor do we have access to any information about who uses the app, except for some summary statistics provided by Google Play about the number of users in each country, language, etc," he said.

What Element said

Meanwhile, Element, another decentralised messaging platform that has been banned, criticised the Indian government's move in a blog post. Element stated that the block is a result of a 'flawed' understanding of how encryption and decentralisation work.

"Some governments see undermining encryption as the most effective way to combat the ills of terrorism or other illegal behaviour. That approach is completely flawed; it just removes ordinary people’s ability to communicate in private which leaves them vulnerable to all types of surveillance, crime and subjugation," Element said in the blog post.

Taking cognisance of media reports that the Indian government may have blocked the apps as they did not have any representatives in the country, Element said that they have addressed prior concerns of Indian authorities "in a constructive fashion".

"While Element never compromises end-to-end encryption or user privacy, we have been contacted by Indian authorities in the past and addressed them in a constructive fashion (typically responding same-day). Indeed our Trust & Safety team works with governments to build safer secure communications for everyone; while ensuring user privacy and protecting end-to-end encryption," the blog added.