Telegram ban draws founder Durov pushback before NEET retest

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has criticized India’s temporary ban on the messaging app ahead of the NEET-UG re-examination, saying the move punished ordinary users while failing to stop those behind exam-related leaks and scams.

In a post on X, Durov said India’s IT ministry had banned Telegram for a week because some users had shared leaked exam questions.

The restriction, he said, “punishes 150M+ ordinary Telegram users” in the country.

Durov also said the ban “has not stopped anything” and that the leaks had “simply moved to other apps.”

India has temporarily blocked Telegram until 22 June, a day after the NEET-UG re-examination scheduled for 21 June.

The move was taken after authorities said the platform was being used by cheating rackets to defraud candidates appearing for the medical entrance test.

Reuters reported that the restriction was issued under a provision of India’s IT law that allows the government to block access to online services in the interest of national integrity.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has defended the move, saying Telegram was being misused by fraudsters to circulate fake question papers and mislead students and parents ahead of the retest.

“We had to take this drastic step because the platform was continuously being misused by scamsters and fraudsters sharing fake question papers,” NTA Director General Abhishek Singh told ANI.

Singh said the agency had held discussions with Telegram officials and asked them to prevent groups openly claiming to offer leaked NEET papers. He said more than 200 channels had been blocked, but delays in enforcement allowed some students to be defrauded.

Singh also said some Telegram channels had circulated misleading videos suggesting that the 3 May NEET paper had been shared before the exam.

The government has also asked Telegram to disable its message-editing feature in India until 30 June.

TechCrunch reported that the NTA argued the feature had been used to fabricate evidence of paper leaks after examinations had already taken place.

The agency said both the app restriction and the feature curb were taken in the interest of public order and to prevent cheating rackets from targeting NEET candidates.

The ban has drawn criticism from digital rights advocates, who say blocking an entire platform is a blunt response to exam fraud.

The Internet Freedom Foundation called the shutdown a disproportionate response, arguing that it would not solve the underlying problem.

The row adds a new digital-rights dimension to the NEET controversy, which has already triggered public anger after allegations of leaked papers and irregularities.

Results for millions of candidates had been canceled after last month’s paper leak allegations, forcing authorities to schedule a re-examination.