Telegram founder Durov says India has ‘punished’ more than 150 million people by banning the app

Pavel Durov, founder of the Telegram messaging app, said on Tuesday that by temporarily banning Telegram in the country, the Indian authorities have “punished” over 150 million ordinary users in India.

The ban has not stopped anything and the leaks “simply moved to other apps”, Durov said.

India has temporarily blocked the Telegram messaging app, saying it was used to try to defraud candidates for a national medical entrance test, which had already been hit by allegations of leaked papers last month that led millions of results to be cancelled.
NTA Director General Abhishek Singh said the restriction on Telegram till June 22 was part of efforts to ensure that the June 21 re-test is conducted without malpractice.

“We will not let anything go wrong. We will take all possible actions to ensure that the examination is conducted without any malpractice,” Singh told PTI when asked about the move.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), acting on recommendations made by the NTA, has issued a direction under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, restricting access to the Telegram platform in India for a defined and limited period ending June 22, 2026 covering the day of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination and its immediate aftermath.

A separate direction requires Telegram to disable in India the message-editing feature for already-posted messages till June 30, 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, the NTA said in a statement.

“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 scheduled on 21 June, 2026,” it said.

Asked whether the action was prompted by any reports of a paper leak, the NTA chief said there was no such trigger and that authorities had instead been dealing with fake messages circulating online.

“No, these were all fake messages. Yesterday also, the Ahmedabad police cracked a case in which fake messages were being circulated,” he said.

Singh said the circulation of such messages was causing anxiety among candidates. “Since this was going on, it was leading to a lot of people being anxious and a lot of mental stress to the students. We had to take this action,” he said.