Telegram suspension affects over 150 million users in India: CEO Pavel Durov

Pavel Durov said India’s temporary suspension of Telegram ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination affected over 150 million users. Authorities imposed restrictions to curb question paper leak-related malpractice, while Telegram removed channels linked to scams and leaked content

New Delhi: 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 India’s IT ministry banned Telegram for one week because some users shared leaked exam questions. This impacted more than 150 million Telegram users in India. He further said that Telegram had removed hundreds of channels in recent weeks that were allegedly sharing leaked examination materials and running related scams in India.

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Durov added that the company is working to make the edited label on messages more prominent to help prevent backdating scams and the manipulation of content timestamps.

The remarks came after the Indian government ordered a temporary suspension of Telegram services until June 22 as part of measures aimed at preventing 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 following recommendations from the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts NEET for admissions to undergraduate medical colleges across the country.

Alongside the temporary suspension, authorities have directed Telegram to disable its message-editing feature in India until June 30.

According to the NTA, investigators believe the feature was previously misused to create misleading evidence of question paper leaks by editing messages after examination papers had already been circulated. Google and Apple have already removed Telegram from their app stores in compliance with the government’s directive.