Court rejects Telegram appeal against India ban
The New Delhi High Court upheld a temporary block tied to claims that Telegram channels sold leaked medical entrance exam papers.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
2 min read
The New Delhi High Court has rejected Telegram’s bid to overturn a temporary ban in India, leaving the app blocked in its largest market. The dispute matters for more than 150 million users in India and adds to a widening fight between governments and the messaging platform over unlawful content.
The court issued its decision on Friday after a closed-door hearing involving Telegram and Indian officials, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported, citing court records. Judge Tejas Karia said the government’s orders were supported by reasons and had followed the required legal process.
India blocked Telegram earlier this week over allegations that channels on the platform were selling leaked questions for an undergraduate medical entrance exam, according to the Ministry of Information Technology. App tracking data cited by Al Jazeera and Reuters showed the ban took Telegram offline in India and removed it from app stores.
The ministry said on Sunday that the material being sold on Telegram included exam questions. It also said fake questions could still harm candidates by misleading them.
The dispute follows a separate exam controversy. India cancelled the results of the medical entrance test a month earlier after allegations that the questions had been leaked in advance, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters.
Telegram had challenged the ban in court, while Indian officials argued in private proceedings that the company had been too slow to remove accounts offering exam papers, according to court filings cited by Al Jazeera and Reuters. Telegram disputed the government’s description of those meetings in its own filings.
The company called the government’s account “one-sided and inaccurate” and said it had “intentionally” left out details about Telegram’s own enforcement work, according to the filings. Telegram said it had removed more than 900 links connected to unlawful exam-related content.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov publicly criticised India’s ban, saying it punished users of the platform even though the exam leaks had already spread elsewhere, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported. Telegram has not succeeded in persuading the court to lift the block for now.
The case adds India to a broader set of countries applying pressure to Telegram. China and Iran have kept long-running bans on the app since 2015 and 2018, respectively, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters.
Telegram is also under scrutiny in other jurisdictions. French authorities are investigating Durov over alleged failures to limit criminal content on the platform, while officials in Malaysia and Australia have also examined the company’s handling of content, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.