GitHub: 10 Things To Know About Open Source Platform That Hosted Bulli Bai App

GitHub has grabbed headlines again after the platform hosted a controversial Bulli Bai mobile application that allegedly put Muslim women for auction. The same platform had hosted an app named Sulli Deals in 2021 which also uploaded the pictures of Muslim women for auction. Both the applications have been removed from the platform.

Bulli and Sulli are derogatory terms used against Muslim women. GitHub in its media statement have claimed that they follow guidelines for the kind of content they carry. Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that the GitHub user working behind the app had been blocked and "further action" was being coordinated.

Delhi Police has also asked the open-source platform about the details developer of the application.

10 Things To Know About GitHub:

1. GitHub was launched in 2008 by Tom Preston-Werner, Chris Wanstrath, P. J. Hyett, Scott Chacon as Logical Awesome LLC and has it's headquarter in San Francisco, United States of America.

2. The platform hosts and provides services in form of web based graphical interface allowing different people to work from anywhere and collaborate together. It is open source community where the code becomes open to organisation and anybody could contribute to it.

3. GitHub packages can be published privately or publicly for the open source community. It allows the potential developers to share the knowledge to global community.

4. Git is a version control system for tracking changes in the computer files. Version Control System basically helps the user to make change and the main repository updates all of it together. It helps in coordinating work among many people working on same project and tracking the progress made.

5. The platform helps not only coders or programmers, but also the non technical users by keeping the track of files they are working on from anywhere .

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6. In 2018, the platform was bought by the tech giant Microsoft for  $7.5 billion.

7. On January 1,2022, GitHub Pages site was launched in the subdomain bullibai.github.io that allegedly contained  morphed pictures of numerous Indian Muslim women. The targets were the influential vocal Muslim women journalists, famous personalities, social workers, students for auction.

8. The pictures of the women were taken from various social media profile. They were edited and uploaded on the platform. The page has been removed by GitHub following complaints about derogatory content.

9. Similar incident took place last year with a similar mobile application named Sulli Deals hosted on GitHub, where the FIRs were reported in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. The investigations in the case are still underway.

10. Many controversies like blocking access to private repositories by the company were reported from countries like North Korea, Iran, Crimea, Cuba and Syria. In 2014, Russia also blacklisted GitHub because it refused to take down user-posted suicide manuals initially.