India Temporarily Bans Telegram Over Exam Fraud Concerns
India has blocked Telegram until June 22 due to concerns over exam fraud, impacting millions of students. Here's what you need to know.
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India has taken a strong stance against alleged exam fraud by issuing an order to block the popular messaging platform Telegram until June 22. The move comes in response to reports that fraudsters are using Telegram to target students ahead of a re-test of NEET, one of the country's biggest entrance exams.
The National Testing Agency (NTA), which administers the National Eligibility Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET [UG]), announced this order on Tuesday. The restrictions aim to prevent the spread of fake exam papers and misinformation among students preparing for the June 21 re-test.
NTA officials have cited Section 69A of India's Information Technology Act, which allows for blocking online services under certain conditions. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov criticized this move, arguing that it would punish more than 150 million users in India rather than those responsible for leaking exam materials.
“Both measures have been taken in the interest of public order, in response to the organized use of the platform by cheating rackets to defraud candidates appearing for the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination,” an NTA official said.
Durov also questioned the effectiveness of the ban, suggesting that exam leaks might simply shift to other apps. In a subsequent post, he claimed Telegram had removed hundreds of channels linked to leaked exam materials and related scams in India recently.
The ban has drawn criticism from digital rights advocates, who argue that blocking an entire platform is disproportionate. The Internet Freedom Foundation stated that the restrictions were a “disproportionate response” to exam fraud.
Despite these measures, some users in India have reported continued access to Telegram, and its message-editing feature still appeared functional at the time of writing.
