Telegram lost its bid to overturn an Indian government order temporarily banning the messaging app, with a New Delhi court ruling that the government’s actions, aimed at preserving the integrity of a key medical school exam, were legal and reasonable.
The ban of the app from June 16 to 22 has stirred an intense debate in the world’s most populous nation.
Free speech rights activists say it has set a worrying precedent that cements government powers to curb the use of any messaging platform whenever it sees fit.
The government put the block in place after the results of the country’s exam for students hoping to get into medical schools were scrapped last month amid allegations that the question paper had been leaked.
The government is “empowered... to issue directions for blocking the public access to Telegram,” Delhi High Court Justice Tejas Karia said in his ruling yesterday.
Digital rights group Internet Freedom Foundation said on X that the verdict “sets a concerning precedent with consequences for the open Internet that extend well beyond this case.”
The block only affected Telegram, with the government arguing that the app represented a unique case, citing features such as the easy recreation of blocked channels and the way phone numbers and username-based interactions can be concealed, which create “a persistent enforcement challenge”.
Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov has publicly criticised the ban, saying it punishes the platform’s users, while the exam leaks have moved elsewhere. — Reuters
