From leaked question papers to piracy and CSAM – why is Telegram always in trouble in one country or another? | Mint

The moment messaging and social media app Telegram discovered itself entangled in the NEET UG question paper leak scandal in India and has been quickly banned in the country till 22 June. Telegram was banned on the request of the Nationwide Testing Company (NTA) below Part 69A of the IT Act to forestall dishonest, examination-associated fraud and the unfold of pretend paper leaks forward of the NEET-UG 2026 medical entrance re-examination scheduled for 21 June.

Telegram ban in India

The Ministry of Electronics and Data Expertise (MeitY) has additionally directed Google Play Retailer and Apple App Retailer to limit downloads of Telegram in India until 22 June. MeitY additionally ordered Telegram to disable its message-modifying characteristic for already-posted content material inside India till 30 June.

In accordance to the NTA, scamsters have been utilizing Telegram to function channels that focused college students and mother and father, promising leaked NEET re-examination question papers in change for hundreds to lakhs of rupees. NTA additionally alleges that the fraudsters have been misusing Telegram’s edit message characteristic to give the impression that the question paper had been leaked.

Telegram ban in different international locations

Whereas this is the primary time Telegram has confronted such a restriction in India, the platform launched by Russia-born Pavel Durov in August 2013 has confronted bans or different punitive measures in a number of international locations in the previous.

The ban was imposed in international locations, together with China, Iran, North Korea, Nepal, Kenya, Brazil, Spain, Thailand and Russia. Whereas a few of these restrictions have been short-term and linked to unrest there, Telegram stays banned and below investigation in a number of different international locations worldwide for its hyperlinks to unlawful actions.

Pavel Durov’s arrest in France

Probably the most notable such case was in August 2024, when Durov, a resident of the UAE who additionally holds French citizenship, was arrested on the Le Bourget Airport in Paris. French authorities alleged that his messaging app, Telegram, was getting used as a software for illicit actions, together with drug trafficking, organized crime, fraud and the distribution of Youngster Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM).

French authorities formally charged Durov on 12 counts, together with complicity in organized crime transactions, cash laundering and failing to cooperate with licensed authorized interceptions.

In accordance to French prosecutors, Telegram lacked adequate moderation, and unscrupulous components exploited its strict privateness and encryption options to commit felony acts.

Telegram, a hub of piracy

A latest examine revealed by Cornell College revealed that Telegram has emerged as a serious platform for big-scale video piracy, the place copyrighted content material is quickly distributed amongst customers.

The examine checked out 1,057 channels that shared 209k distinctive posts between December 2023 and January 2026. It discovered that the channels collectively distributed 19,033 distinctive copyrighted titles originating from 175 international locations, accumulating over 4.85B distinctive views and ensuing in a decrease-certain estimated monetary lack of $17.49B for content material rights holders.

What makes Telegram engaging to cybercriminals?

In accordance to Ampcus Cyber, a number of Telegram options have made it a favorite for cybercriminals. These embody:

Anonymity: Signing up requires only a short-term or digital quantity and usernames could be something; no actual identification is required.

Weak moderation: Even when unlawful channels are taken down, they often pop proper again up below new names.

Cloud storage: Recordsdata, instruments and stolen knowledge could be simply shared and searched, creating an archive of cybercrime assets.

Mass attain: Telegram channels can have limitless followers, making it straightforward to immediately broadcast providers or stolen knowledge to hundreds.

Cybercheck Safety provides fast content material sharing and the simple creation of unlawful marketplaces as different causes why Telegram is engaging to criminals.

“New channels pop up always, and it’s crucial that we’re on prime of their arrivals,” Cybercheck senior analyst Stuart Holder mentioned in a weblog put up.

“The bigger channels are knowledge-wealthy and comprise a variety of data, so some monitoring providers simply concentrate on these. Nevertheless, at Cybercheck, we unfold our work over hundreds of channels to guarantee we’re receiving credentials from each angle. This offers us our aggressive edge. It means we will present fast, complete alerting to assist organizations cease threats earlier than they unfold and forestall assaults earlier than they occur,” he provides.