New Delhi | Google has removed messaging app Telegram from its Play Store, and Apple is likely to follow suit in compliance with a government order, sources aware of the development said on Tuesday.
The government has ordered Google and Apple to delist the Telegram app from their app stores till June 22 to check paper leaks during the upcoming re-examination of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) on June 21.
The nationwide examination is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admission to undergraduate medical institutes. The agency cancelled the previous exam held on May 3 amid allegations of paper leak.
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.
Android phone users, while trying to download the Telegram app from the Google Play Store, see the message "this app is not available". Those who have already downloaded the app may face restrictions while using it.
Existing Telegram accounts conitnued to remain operational. While Apple's App Store was showing the app, the new account could not be activated on iPhones.
Sources told PTI that the government is in discussion with Telegram to temporarily disable the message editing feature till June 30, which allows existing users to edit their old messages as well as add any new content.
"The government has asked Google and Apple to delist the app temporarily. Google has done it. Apple will also be doing it," a source said on condition of anonymity.
Sources said that any individual could search for a group on Telegram and join it without requiring permission from the group administrator.
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, NTA said in a statement.
It said the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, has served as the principal nodal agency, coordinating the operational response to the Telegram-based fraud and misinformation targeting NEET candidates.
According to the agency, acting on inputs from the NTA, state law enforcement agencies, including the police forces of Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan, and its own monitoring efforts, I4C secured the prompt takedown of a "substantial number" of Telegram channels, groups and bots that openly advertised fraudulent and misleading purposes.
The decision of the government to single out Telegram has earned criticism from digital advocacy and public policy entities.
Public policy firm IGAP said that for an examination of the NEET scale and consequence, the state has a legitimate interest in acting against fake paper-leak claims, organised cheating networks and fraud that can create panic among students and families.
"Restricting access to Telegram affects many ordinary users who may have nothing to do with the misconduct. Students, coaching groups, teachers, professionals, journalists, small businesses and communities also use Telegram for legitimate purposes. So the issue is not whether the government can act to protect NEET. It clearly can. The harder question is whether a platform-level restriction is the least intrusive way to address a particular pattern of misuse," IGAP Partner Dhruv Garg said.
He further said that paper leak rumours and exam fraud do not travel only through Telegram. They can move across other platforms and closed groups as well.
"So if Telegram is being singled out, the justification should be Telegram-specific. It should rest on particular channels or bots, repeat offenders, platform design features, or a pattern of non-compliance that made narrower action inadequate," Garg said.
Digital advocacy group The Internet Freedom Foundation criticised the government's curbs on Telegram and disabling its message-editing feature ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 re-exam, calling the move a band-aid solution and a "disproportionate" response to exam fraud.
In a statement on X, the digital rights advocacy outfit expressed its objection to the directions announced today in the National Testing Agency's press release.
"Shutting down Telegram is a band-aid solution and is a disproportionate answer to exam fraud. On the NTA's recommendation, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has, under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, restricted access to the whole of Telegram in India until 22 June 2026, and has separately ordered the platform to switch off message-editing for every Indian user until 30 June 2026," it said.
New Delhi | The National Testing Agency (NTA) and IIT Madras on Tuesday justified the temporary restriction on Telegram ahead of the re-NEET examination, citing instances where the platform was allegedly used to fabricate evidence of question paper leaks through edited messages carrying old timestamps.
The Internet Freedom Foundation, however, criticised the government's curbs on Telegram, calling the move a band-aid solution and a "disproportionate" response to exam fraud.
Google has removed messaging app Telegram from the Play Store and Apple is likely to follow suit in compliance with a government order, sources aware of the development said.
Explaining the rationale behind the restrictions on Telegram, NTA Director General Abhishek Singh said the step was taken to safeguard the integrity of the re-NEET examination following the cancellation of the May 3 exam over malpractice allegations.
"The primary reason for cancelling the exam and ordering a re-exam and CBI inquiry was to ensure that nobody violates the sanctity, the integrity of the NTA examination, the NEET examinations, and nobody should be able to take away the rights of hard-working students," Singh said in a video message on X.
He acknowledged the burden on candidates who have been asked to appear again.
"This is a big hardship for the students who had to appear at the exam again. We fully understand that and that's why we are not leaving any stone unturned for ensuring that examinations are conducted in a safe, secure, trustworthy manner," he said.
According to Singh, one of the major concerns was the misuse of Telegram channels claiming to sell question papers.
"Social media is flooded with such stories about Telegram channels claiming to sell re-examination papers. We have verified every claim and what we have found is that they are all fake," he said, adding, "None of them has access to the actual papers."
He said those behind such channels exploit students and parents by taking money on false promises.
"Anyone claiming to sell you any paper is lying, scamming and fooling you...," he said.
Singh also alleged that Telegram channels use message-editing features to create a false impression that question papers were available before the examination.
"What Telegram channels have been doing for long is that they show videos and screenshots of Telegram chats that appear to contain question papers with dates which are before the examination," he said.
Singh cited an instance from the May 3 NEET examination to explain how the alleged misuse worked. "On May 3, when the examination was conducted, we got a similar complaint wherein a video was circulated by several handles after the examination was conducted, which showed a question paper that was shared on that Telegram channel on May 1, that is, two days before the examination," he said.
According to Singh, the NTA investigated the matter and found that the question paper shown in the video carried a unique identifier. "Every question paper in the NEET examination has a unique identifier. So we are able to track it," he said.
Elaborating on the probe, Singh said the NTA was able to trace the question paper shown in the viral video to a specific candidate through its unique identifier.
"We identified that question paper which was shown in that video. It was given to one candidate at Government Higher Secondary School, Sagam Anantnag in J-K. This question paper was given to that student on May 3 under the magistrate's supervision.
"We verified the entire CCTV content. We also identified the student to whom it was given. We even got his attendance sheet verified. That student had appeared in the May 3 examination," he said.
"The student's OMR sheet also was received back to NTA after the conduct of the examination. So it was clear that this Telegram chat was fabricated," he said.
According to him, the probe found that Telegram allows channel administrators to edit previously posted messages while retaining the original timestamp.
"Telegram has a vulnerability in which it allows the admins of a Telegram channel to edit a chat in the past date... When they do that, the timestamp remains the same," Singh said.
Explaining the issue, IIT Madras Director V. Kamakoti said Telegram allows users to edit messages without altering the original timestamp.
"The Telegram platform has a vulnerability. You can send a message today at 3 pm and you can edit the message tomorrow or some other day later without changing the timestamp. So, for people who look at the message tomorrow or later, it will look as if he had sent the message at 3 pm today," Kamakoti said.
"Using this vulnerability, there's been an attempt in the past too," he said.
Kamakoti said similar instances had been observed in other competitive examinations. "There's been an attempt in the past to create confusion and panic among candidates who appeared for multiple competitive examinations. At least two instances, to the best of my knowledge -- one in the case of JEE Advanced and another in the case of IISER Aptitude Test," he said.
Kamakoti also demonstrated the Telegram trick live. A student sends "pdf1.pdf" at 3:39 PM. A minute later, the message is edited and the file is silently replaced with "pdf2.pdf". The timestamp still reads 3:39 PM and nothing indicates that anything changed.
"Telegram allows this for up to 48 hours after a message is sent," the NTA post said.
"This is exactly how fake 'leak' videos are made," it added.