India has temporarily blocked Telegram until June 22 in a major move linked to the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak controversy, just days before the re-examination scheduled for June 21. The decision immediately drew criticism from Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who said the government had effectively punished more than 150 million Indian users while the actual offenders simply shifted to other platforms. The block comes after authorities concluded that several Telegram channels were being used to spread claims of leaked question papers and target students preparing for one of India’s most important entrance exams.
“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,” Durov noted.
The controversy began after serious allegations emerged that the original NEET-UG 2026 examination had been compromised by paper leaks. NEET is the single largest gateway to undergraduate medical education in India, with around 2.3 million candidates appearing for the exam this year. Following investigations and growing public pressure, authorities cancelled the original results and ordered a fresh examination.
Meanwhile, investigators reportedly found that Telegram had become a key platform for networks claiming to have access to leaked examination papers. Several public channels and groups allegedly advertised NEET question papers, answer keys and ‘guaranteed’ scores in exchange for large sums of money. Officials feared that as the June 21 re-test approached, such groups could mislead students, spread fake papers, or even facilitate fresh cheating attempts. Therefore, the government decided that immediate intervention was necessary to protect the integrity of the examination process.
The action was not limited to a temporary app restriction. Reports indicate that authorities also ordered the disabling of Telegram’s message-editing feature in India until June 30. Investigators believed that edited messages could potentially be used to create false evidence of paper leaks by changing older posts while keeping their original timestamps. Multiple agencies, including the National Testing Agency (NTA), the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), and cybercrime units from several states, were involved in examining the alleged leak networks and monitoring online activity related to the examination.
The decision is particularly significant because India is Telegram’s biggest market. The platform is estimated to have more than 150 million users in the country and over one billion users globally. And now, Durov strongly opposed the latest move, arguing that platform-wide bans rarely solve the underlying problem. According to him, people involved in paper leaks can quickly move to alternative messaging services, while ordinary users bear the consequences of the restriction. His comments show Telegram’s long-standing position that governments should target specific criminals and illegal networks rather than blocking access to entire platforms. It is important to note that the company has made similar arguments in disputes with regulators and governments in several countries over the years.
The Tech Portal is published by Blue Box Media Private Limited. Our investors have no influence over our reporting. Read our full Ownership and Funding Disclosure →
Ashutosh is a Senior Writer at The Tech Portal, largely reporting on new tech, and intersection of technology and business. Ashutosh’s career spans across nearly a decade of technology writing across multiple platforms and languages.
