If they join public spaces wouldn’t the govt also be able to join and track conversations?

Blue tooth

It’s not immediately deployable. Especially since you need internet to get the app, and what authoritarian regimes do first is cut the internet. A bitchat over meshtastic firmware was release a couple of days ago, that could extend the range significantly. Still not perfect. I find it works great across rooms or within a building. It works good underground like in subways. And the most obvious use case is classrooms/movies/auditoriums in general.