Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has said that India’s temporary suspension of the messaging platform ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination has affected more than 150 million users nationwide.
In a post on X, Durov said the week-long restriction, which will remain in effect until June 22, is unlikely to stop the spread of leaked exam content and could instead push such activity to other platforms.
India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ordered the temporary ban as part of efforts to prevent malpractice during the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination scheduled for June 21. The test is being conducted again after allegations that question papers were leaked during the original exam held on May 3.
According to Durov, Telegram has removed hundreds of channels in recent weeks that were allegedly involved in sharing leaked exam materials and running related scams in India.
He also said the company is working to make message edit labels more visible to prevent the misuse of edited posts and manipulated timestamps. Indian authorities have separately directed Telegram to disable its message-editing feature in the country until June 30, saying investigators believe it was used to create misleading evidence related to question paper leaks.
The restriction was introduced following recommendations from the National Testing Agency, which oversees the NEET examination process for admissions to undergraduate medical colleges across India.
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Reports indicate that Google and Apple have removed Telegram from their app stores in India to comply with the government’s directive.
