India’s IT ministry banned Telegram for one week because some users shared leaked exam questions. This punishes 150M ordinary Telegram users in India — not the insiders who leaked the exam materials. And the ban hasn't stopped anything. The leaks just moved to other apps.

Statement : Shutting down Telegram is a band aid solution and is a disproportionate answer to exam fraud The Internet Freedom Foundation objects to the directions announced today in the National Testing Agency's press release on action against the Telegram platform. On the NTA's recommendation, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has, under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, restricted access to the whole of Telegram in India until 22 June 2026, and has separately ordered the platform to switch off message-editing for every Indian user until 30 June 2026. This is a blunt, nationwide measure aimed at the conduct of rampant fraud rackets, and on the Government's own admission is constitutionally incompatible. At the outset it is important to note that Section 69A and the Blocking Rules of 2009 framed under it allow the Government to block access to specific “information” on a computer resource. They do not extend to switching off an entire intermediary, still less to ordering a company to redesign its product by removing a feature for a whole country. In Shreya Singhal v Union of India, the Supreme Court upheld Section 69A because it is narrow and hedged with procedural safeguards. Reading it to authorise shutting down a platform that lakhs use is an overbroad restriction by the NTAs own admission. For the message-editing direction the release identifies no source of power at all. If one exists, the order must say so. The release argues against itself A restriction on access has to be the least intrusive measure that achieves its aim as per the constitutional test of proportionality laid down in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017) and applied in Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India (2020). The NTA's own narration shows the block fails its nodal agency, the release says, “has secured the prompt take-down of a substantial number of Telegram channels, groups and bots”, and this targeted work “is the reason the harm caused by these rackets has been contained to the extent it has”. If channel level takedown contained the harm, the case for a blanket block collapses and hence the Government has reached for a heavier tool while conceding that a lighter one was working. The collateral cost sits on the record too as noted in the press release. The block, the NTA accepts, “affects lakhs of citizens who use the Telegram platform for legitimate personal, educational, professional and informational purposes”. The release also says there is "no such paper available outside the secured examination chain" and that “the security of the examination is unaffected by the action taken”. If the exam is secure and no leak exists, what is being suppressed is rumour, and rumour cannot justify closing a platform when specific blocking and criminal prosecution remain available. Students use of Telegram The block of telegram is reactive and ineffective and will punish ordinary users instead of addressing the systemic source of exam leaks. This blocking comes in the final days of NEET preparation, when thousands of students depend on Telegram for study groups, doubt-clearing, and shared resources. Also, it is important to consider that the source of exam papers leak will occur from inside the system, among insiders and across the printing and logistics chain, with the platform being the most downstream channel for distribution. Hence, switching off Telegram, is merely a deflection from the repeated failures that will continue while media attention is directed towards this Telegram ban. Lack of transparency At present only a press release from the NTA has been provided, which recommended the block but the reasoned order of MeitY, the authority that issued it, has not been released. The Anuradha Bhasin decision requires that orders restricting access be published so they can be tested in court. Here the order, and the reasoning of the committee behind it, stay out of view, and we do not know whether Telegram was heard at all. An announcement of a block is no substitute for an order the affected party can challenge. Blunt to enforce and very easy to evade Usually, app-level blocks run through IS-level DNS and IP filtering. They are over inclusive, sweeping in lawful use, yet simple to evade as a determined exam leak racket moves to a VPN or a mirror within minutes while ordinary users lose the service for a week. We ask the Government to: 1) Publish the MeitY Section 69A order and the NTA recommendation behind it, with reasons; 2) State the legal basis for the message editing direction, or withdraw it; 3) Confirm whether Telegram was given a hearing under the Blocking Rules, and place the committee's record before any court that hears a challenge; and 4) Lift the platform-wide restriction and rely on the targeted takedowns the NTA itself credits with containing the harm. We emphasise that the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination is worth protecting and it concerns the future of lakhs of aspirants. It requires securing the entire process of examination rather than reaching for purported band aid solutions that instead cause more harm. The State cannot switch off a service used by lakhs to answer the wrongdoing of a few, and cannot do it through an order no one affected is allowed to read. On its own facts, the Government has done both. New Delhi, 16 June 2026.

NTA STATEMENT REGARDING THE ACTION ON TELEGRAM PLATFORM IN INDIA 1. The National Testing Agency (NTA) welcomes the directions issued today in respect of the Telegram platform in India. The directions, issued on recommendations of NTA are calibrated and bounded in time: (a) a direction under Section 69 A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, restricting access to the Telegram platform in India for a defined and limited period ending 22 June 2026, covering the day of the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination and its immediate aftermath; and (b) a direction requiring the platform to disable, in India, the message-editing feature in respect of messages already posted, for a defined period ending 30 June 2026, addressing the specific structural feature through which the platform has been used to fabricate after-the-event “paper leak” evidence in respect of national examinations. Both measures have been taken in the interest of public order, in response to the organised use of the platform by cheating rackets to defraud candidates appearing for the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination scheduled on 21 June 2026. NTA expresses its gratitude to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for this timely action, in the interest of students, which will go a long way in helping NTA to be able to conduct safe and secure examinations on 21st June 2026. 2. Throughout the period leading up to the present action, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, has served as the principal nodal agency coordinating the operational response to the Telegram-based fraud and misinformation targeting NEET (UG) 2026 candidates. Acting on inputs received continuously from NTA, from State law-enforcement agencies including the police forces of Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan, and from its own continuous monitoring of public channels and platforms, I4C has secured the prompt take-down of a substantial number of Telegram channels, groups and bots whose names and content openly advertised their fraudulent and misleading purpose. This was done with active support of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. NTA places on record that the intelligence-sharing and coordinated take-down action led by the Ministry of Home Affairs, through I4C, and MeitY has been continuous, prompt and substantive, and remains the operational backbone of the response. This sustained inter-agency effort, well in advance of the present platform-level action, is the reason the harm caused by these rackets has been contained to the extent it has. 3. The directions issued today by MeitY have been made following references by NTA and the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, drawing attention to the structural limits of channel-by-channel action and seeking graduated platform-level compliance. The directions are a measure of last resort, taken only after intermediate remedies, including the take-down action coordinated by I4C, had been pursued and had not produced, at the platform level, the response required to protect candidates in the run-up to the examination. The calibration of the directions - a narrow platform-access restriction confined to the examination window, together with a feature-specific compliance direction for the post-examination period - reflects an effort to address the public-order concern with the minimum restriction necessary. 4. Over the preceding weeks, channels operating openly on the platform under names that themselves advertised their purpose - “PAPER LEAKED NEET”, “Re-NEET 2026”, “Private Mafia”, “REE NEET MAFIAA” and similar formulations - demanded sums ranging from a few thousand to several lakhs of rupees from candidates and their families, in exchange for purported access to the re-examination paper. NTA has placed on the record, and reiterates, that there is no such paper available outside the secured examination chain. The promise of any such material is, in every instance, a fraud. 5. The direction requiring Telegram to disable its message-editing feature in India through 30 June 2026 addresses a separate but related concern. The feature, in its present form, permits a channel administrator to edit the content of a previously posted message - including the substitution of attached files such as PDFs - while the original send-time stamp is retained. This capability has been used, in respect of multiple recent examinations, to fabricate after-the-event “paper leak” artefacts: a channel administrator edits an older, innocuous message to insert the actual question paper after the examination has been conducted, and the resulting chat is then circulated as purported “evidence” that the paper was in circulation before the examination. The MeitY direction closes this avenue of fabrication for the post-examination window in which such artefacts have historically been deployed. 6. Independent action by State law-enforcement agencies has, over the same period, reinforced the scale and seriousness of the concern. The Bihar Police Economic Offences Unit issued a formal public advisory on 9 June 2026, warning candidates against fraudulent claims of pre-examination access to the paper circulated through Telegram and other platforms. The Ahmedabad City Cyber Crime Branch arrested members of an inter-State cyber-fraud gang found to be operating eight Telegram channels in furtherance of the same modus operandi, with documented transactions of approximately ₹1.5 crore routed through fraudulent bank accounts and approximately one thousand mobile numbers contacted in a single month. Investigations are in progress in multiple other States. 7. NTA acknowledges that the access restriction issued by MeitY affects lakhs of citizens who use the Telegram platform for legitimate personal, educational, professional and informational purposes, and sincerely regrets the inconvenience caused to them. The access restriction is, by its express terms, confined to the period ending 22 June 2026 - i.e. the day after the examination. The feature-specific direction in respect of the message-editing function, which remains in force through 30 June 2026, does not affect ordinary use of the platform for sending or receiving new messages. 8. The NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination will be conducted as scheduled on 21 June 2026. The security of the examination is unaffected by the action taken; it is, in fact, the very purpose of the action. Every candidate and parent is reassured of NTA’s commitment to conducting a fair, secure and credible examination. Candidates are urged to focus on their preparation, to disregard unverified content circulating on any platform, and to rely exclusively on the NTA website (neet.nta.nic.in) and verified NTA handles for all examination-related updates. 9. Any encounter with fraudulent solicitations - in person, by telephone, or through any online platform - should be reported immediately to the National Cyber-Crime Helpline at 1930, or through the National Cyber-Crime Reporting Portal at cybercrime.gov.in. NTA’s own helplines remain available at 011-40759000 / 011-69227700 and at neetug@nta.ac.in. 10. NTA places on record its sincere appreciation of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for the timely and calibrated directions issued, of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre for the sustained operational coordination that has made today’s action possible, of the Central Bureau of Investigation for its parallel inquiry into the underlying offences, and of the police forces of Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan and other States for their independent enforcement action - each of which has contributed, in its own measure, to protecting the integrity of one of the country’s most consequential examinations and the interests of its candidates.

To every NEET candidate and parent - please watch this. A few minutes that could save you serious money and stress this week. Scammers on Telegram were running two rackets targeting you: 1️⃣ Channels demanding ₹14,000 to ₹25,000 - some even ₹10 lakh - claiming they'll send you the re-exam paper. They won't. There is no leaked paper for the re-exam. The money is gone the moment you transfer it. Your admit card and WhatsApp number, if you sent them, become the tools they use to scam the next student. 2️⃣ Fake "proof" videos showing chats from before the exam. The trick: on Telegram, whoever runs a channel can edit any old message AND change what's inside it, while the date on the message stays the same. So a message edited on the 4th can be made to look exactly like it was sent on the 1st. The full explanation is in the video below — please watch and share with anyone you know who's preparing 👇 🎥 youtube.com/watch?v=4xDWNodp… The same trick will be tried again after 21st June. Don't fall for it. Don't forward it. Don't pay anyone. ✅ Focus on your prep - you've earned this ✅ Trust only nta.ac.in and verified NTA handles ✅ Tell your friends - especially anyone anxious enough to be tempted 📞 Report any scam: National Cyber-Crime Helpline 1930 or cybercrime.gov.in Your hard work is what will get you through this exam. Not a Telegram channel. We're on your side. 💪 🎥 Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, also explains the technical side clearly - his videos are in the replies below.

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#BREAKING: Telegram App access restricted in India temporarily for re-NEET examination following recommendations of National Testing Agency (NTA).

BREAKING: Telegram will be blocked in India till June 22 at the request of the National Testing Agency.