NTA’s Telegram ban ahead of NEET-UG retest may be futile, say experts | Mint
Mumbai: The government’s move to temporarily block Telegram over concerns the app could be used for cheating in a high-stakes examination is unlikely to solve the problem, internet policy experts said, noting that those seeking leaked papers or unfair assistance can simply migrate to other encrypted messaging platforms.
The crackdown on Telegram follows the cancellation of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (Neet-UG) 2026 examination—the test for undergraduate medical courses in the country. On Tuesday, National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts NEET-UG examinations, issued a three-page notice announcing suspension of the entire platform until 22 June, and disabling a feature that allows users to edit sent messages until 30 June.
The ban comes ahead of 21 June, when millions of students will retake the NEET-UG examination after the test held in May was cancelled over alleged paper leaks, triggering nationwide outrage.
While the ban comes into effect immediately, industry stakeholders said simply suspending the platform may not be enough.
“Even though Telegram has a high user base in India, it is likely that these conversations will shift to other platforms now that it has been banned,” said Rohit Kumar, founding partner at public policy firm The Quantum Hub. “Users may also resort to virtual private networks (VPNs), which is what people did when Twitter placed restrictions on sexually explicit content.”
Channels taken down
NTA, in its notice, said that as directed by Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), law enforcement agencies took down “a substantial number of Telegram channels, groups and bots whose names and content openly advertised their fraudulent and misleading purpose.” The testing body also noted that it attempted to take down only specific channels, but the same “had not produced the response required to protect candidates in the run-up to the examination.”
Apar Gupta, founder-director of Internet Freedom Foundation, told Mint that the suspension of Telegram is “close to symbolic” against those determined to circulate leaked examination papers.
“The ban will not reduce circulation in any real way. Most of these rackets are mobile by design, so the moment one route closes, the bad actors shift to Signal, Reddit, WhatsApp or even fresh Telegram accounts behind a VPN. The NTA’s own statement concedes the point,” Gupta said.
The ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) invoked Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, to enforce the restriction. The provision empowers the government to direct social media platforms to block specific accounts and channels, or even call for blocking a full app or website, in the interest of national security.
Under scanner
The use of this legal provision has come under the scanner on multiple occasions. On 28 April, a report by The Indian Express said that Meity’s use of the section had doubled to over 25,000 cases of blocking orders through 2025.
Gupta said that encryption was not a challenge in the NEET-UG compromise, since only one-on-one private conversations are encrypted on Telegram.
Others said that that given Telegram’s popularity, banning the platform was akin to addressing only the upper layer—and not the root cause of a problem. India, as per most open-source market research platforms, was Telegram’s biggest market, with 85-100 million monthly active users.
“The ban leaves an important question of proportionality. Restricting access to Telegram will affect ordinary users who have nothing to do with misconduct—students, coaching groups, teachers, professionals, small businesses and communities also use Telegram for legitimate purposes,” said Dhruv Garg, founding partner at policy think-tank India Governance and Policy Project.
Garg added that restriction of information linked solely to the examination “may be easier to defend, rather than a general, open-ended platform ban.”