New Delhi, June 17 (IANS): Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has said that the temporary suspension of the messaging platform in India ahead of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2026 re-examination affected more than 150 million users. In a post on social media platform X, Durov said the Indian government’s decision to suspend Telegram services for one week over concerns that some users had shared leaked examination questions impacted a significant portion of the platform’s user base in the country. He added that Telegram had already removed hundreds of channels in recent weeks that were allegedly involved in sharing leaked exam materials and running related scams. Durov also said the company is working to make message edit labels more prominent to prevent misuse of the editing feature for backdating scams and manipulating content timestamps.
The remarks came after the government ordered a temporary suspension of Telegram services until June 22 as part of measures to prevent malpractice during the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination scheduled for June 21. The examination is being conducted again following allegations of question paper leaks during the original test held on May 3. The restriction was imposed on the recommendation of the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the examination for undergraduate medical admissions. Authorities have also directed Telegram to disable its message-editing feature in India until June 30, citing concerns that it had been used to create misleading evidence of question paper leaks by editing messages after exam papers had already been circulated. In compliance with the directive, Google and Apple have removed Telegram from their respective app stores in India.