Telegram’s Pavel Durov slams India’s temporary ban, says 150 million users ‘punished’ without stopping NEET leak scams

Dubai: Telegram founder Pavel Durov has criticised India's temporary ban on the messaging platform, arguing that the move has "punished" more than 150 million users in the country without preventing the spread of leaked examination materials.

In a post on his X (formerly known as Twitter) account on Tuesday, Durov said the restrictions had failed to stop the circulation of leaked content, which had instead migrated to other platforms.

"The leaks simply moved to other apps," he said.

Durov also highlighted the platform's efforts to work with Indian authorities to combat examination-related fraud.

"Over the past few weeks, we removed hundreds of channels sharing leaked exam materials and related scams in India. We have also been making the edited label more visible to prevent backdating scams," he said on his official Telegram channel.

He added: "Telegram is a force for good. Banning it, even temporarily, is a mistake."

India has temporarily restricted access to Telegram until June 22, citing concerns that the platform was being used by organised groups attempting to defraud candidates sitting a national medical entrance examination.

The restriction follows controversy surrounding the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), India's highly competitive undergraduate medical entrance examination. Last month, authorities cancelled examination results after allegations emerged that question papers had been leaked, affecting around 2.3 million students.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Ministry of Education's National Testing Agency (NTA) said the temporary ban was imposed "in response to the organised use of the platform by cheating rackets to defraud candidates appearing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test 2026 re-examination scheduled on 21 June 2026".

According to the NTA, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), acting on the agency's recommendations, directed internet service providers to temporarily restrict access to Telegram until June 22. The government has also instructed the platform to disable its message-editing feature in India until June 30.

The NTA said the measures were intended to prevent organised cheating networks from using the platform to spread false claims about leaked examination papers and to scam students preparing to sit the re-examination.

Indian authorities have alleged that certain Telegram channels were advertising access to the examination paper in exchange for payment. Following the alleged leak and the cancellation of examination results, protests were held in several parts of the country, with demonstrators calling for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The alleged paper leak is currently under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), with more than a dozen arrests reported so far.

Telegram has approached the Delhi High Court to challenge the Indian government's order temporarily blocking the app. According to Bar and Bench, an Indian legal news platform, the petition was filed on 17 June. Telegram's legal team argued that the government had taken a unilateral decision without first seeking an explanation from the company.