India temporarily blocks Telegram app over medical exam fraud
Telegram app logo is seen in this illustration taken, on Aug 27, 2024. (Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic)
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NEW DELHI: India has temporarily blocked the Telegram messaging app, saying it was used to try to defraud candidates for a national medical entrance test, which had already been hit by allegations of leaked papers last month that led millions of results to be cancelled.
The ban, which is unprecedented in India, was “in response to the organised use of the platform by cheating rackets to defraud candidates appearing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2026 re-examination scheduled on Jun 21,” the Ministry of Education’s National Testing Agency said on Tuesday (Jun 16).
It is in effect until Jun 22.
The government said it was restricting access to the Telegram platform in India for a defined and limited period.
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The restriction was issued under a stringent provision of the IT law, which empowers the government to block access to online sites in the “interest of sovereignty and integrity of India”.
Last month, the Indian government cancelled the NEET undergraduate entrance exam for medical colleges after authorities said they were investigating allegations that its questions had been leaked.
The government said the platform was used by channels it did not name that said they were selling access to the exam paper.
Following the alleged paper leaks and the cancellation of exam results for 2.3 million students, protests erupted in various parts of India.
They included demonstrations by India’s viral Cockroach Janta Party demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
INDIAN LAW ALLOWS THE BLOCKING OF ONLINE SUITES
The restriction on Telegram was issued under a provision of India’s IT law that allows the government to block access to online sites in the “interest of sovereignty and integrity of India”.
An activist group said the ban was an infringement of free speech that would not solve the problem.
“Shutting down Telegram is a band-aid solution and is a disproportionate answer to exam fraud,” the Internet Freedom Foundation said.
It said the measure would “punish ordinary users instead of addressing the systemic source of exam leaks”.
In a statement on Tuesday, the government said it regretted the inconvenience and that the measure was a “last resort” after earlier action to remove such content from the platform had not worked.
Telegram did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Telegram application was functioning in India as of 8.30am GMT (4.30pm, Singapore time) on Tuesday.
Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, which together serve more than one billion mobile connections in India, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether they had received and begun implementing the blocking directive.
Alphabet’s Google, which operates the Play Store through which a majority of Indian users download Telegram, and Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it had been directed to restrict the app in India.
Source: Reuters/ec
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