India blocks Telegram over NEET exam fraud
India has blocked the Telegram messaging app nationwide until June 22, with the government saying the platform was being used to defraud students ahead of a high-stakes medical entrance exam.
The Ministry of Education said in a statement on Tuesday that the restriction was necessary in response to “organized use of the platform by cheating rackets to defraud candidates” taking the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, known as NEET, the exam that determines admission to India’s medical colleges.
The timing is no accident. India scrapped the original NEET exam last month after discovering that its questions had leaked before candidates sat the test. A re-examination has since been scheduled for June 21, and authorities say fraudsters have been exploiting Telegram to prey on anxious students in the lead-up.
The National Testing Agency, which falls under the Ministry of Education, said the block was designed to protect candidates appearing for the NEET 2026 re-examination from scams promising access to leaked papers, schemes the agency insists are pure fabrication, since no real exam paper exists outside its secured chain before test day.
The government has gone further than a simple ban. According to officials, two separate directives are now in effect:
The first blocks access to Telegram across India entirely, running through June 22, covering exam day itself and the period immediately after.
The second forces Telegram to disable its message-editing feature in the country until June 30. Authorities say that feature has repeatedly been exploited to manufacture fake “evidence” of paper leaks after exams have already concluded, letting scammers edit old messages to make it look, retroactively, like they’d predicted the leak.
The block was issued under a stringent provision of India’s IT law that allows the government to restrict access to online platforms in the interest of the country’s “sovereignty and integrity.” It’s the same legal tool India has used before to restrict apps and websites.
That provision has its critics. Activists have argued the law is sometimes used to curb free speech, though the Modi government maintains it always acts within the law and in the public interest.
This isn’t a minor inconvenience. India is Telegram’s largest market by downloads worldwide, even though WhatsApp remains the country’s dominant messaging app. That makes the shutdown unusually sweeping, Telegram is used in India for far more than exam scams, from group chats to news distribution to business communication.
The government has acknowledged the disruption. It said in its statement that it “regrets the inconvenience caused” by the blocking. Telegram did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is far from India’s first run-in with Telegram over exam fraud. The app has been repeatedly linked to leak scams around NEET and other major entrance tests in recent years, with fraudulent channels promising papers in exchange for payment, typically demanding gift cards to stay anonymous before disappearing or sending old, fake question papers.
The latest move suggests Indian authorities have decided that warnings and takedown requests aren’t enough, and that only a blanket, temporary shutdown can secure the integrity of Monday’s re-exam.
About The Author
