Centre Brands Telegram “New Dark Web,” says Platform Became Operational Base for Criminal Networks
(By Syed Ali Taher Abedi)
Delhi, 18, June,2026 –The Central Government has defended its temporary restriction on Telegram before the Delhi High Court, arguing that the messaging platform has evolved into a major conduit for criminal activities ranging from examination fraud and cybercrime to terrorism, child exploitation, and drug trafficking.
The restriction was imposed under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, following allegations that Telegram was extensively used by organised cheating syndicates involved in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak.
The government stated that the platform’s features, including large public channels, anonymity through usernames, cloud-based storage, and automated bots, enabled mass dissemination of leaked examination material and facilitated criminal operations on a large scale.
In its counter-affidavit before Justice Tejas Karia, the Centre highlighted a Telegram channel named “Neet Mafia,” which allegedly had over 18,000 subscribers and was used to promote advance bookings, payment mechanisms, and access to leaked NEET-related content.
The government contended that Telegram’s technical architecture makes it difficult to effectively segregate unlawful content from lawful communications, thereby justifying temporary platform-wide restrictions.
The Centre further alleged that Telegram has been used to spread extremist content, facilitate cyber fraud, circulate child sexual abuse material, and provide access to sensitive personal data, including Aadhaar-related information. According to the government, delaying action could have resulted in public disorder, student unrest, and further compromise of the NEET re-examination scheduled for June 21, 2026.
Telegram, however, has challenged the ban, calling it disproportionate and unconstitutional. The company claims it removed more than 900 links connected to NEET-related violations and deployed artificial intelligence, machine learning tools, and manual moderation to combat unlawful content.
It argues that targeted content removal is a less restrictive alternative to a platform-wide ban affecting millions of legitimate users.
The Delhi High Court will now examine whether the government’s invocation of Section 69A meets statutory requirements, whether the temporary ban satisfies the constitutional test of proportionality, and whether content-specific blocking was indeed technically unfeasible.
The restriction on Telegram is scheduled to remain in force until June 22, 2026, while limitations on the platform’s message-editing feature are to continue until June 30, 2026.
Case: Telegram FZ LLC v. Union of India & Others
Court: Delhi High Court
Bench: Justice Tejas Karia
The matter remains sub judice, and all allegations contained in the government’s affidavit are yet to be judicially tested.
