The government's decision to temporarily block Telegram ahead of the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination has drawn criticism from student activist Sarthak Siddhant and ethical hacker Nisarga Adhikary. They sought to know whether such a move would really address concerns over paper leaks.
The criticism came after the government directed Google and Apple to temporarily remove Telegram from their app stores. According to news agency PTI, Google has already delisted the app from the Play Store, while Apple is expected to follow suit.
The action follows recommendations from the National Testing Agency (NTA). Acting under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has restricted access to Telegram in India for a limited period ending June 22, covering the day of the NEET re-examination and its immediate aftermath.
The government has also directed Telegram to disable the message-editing feature for already-posted messages in India until June 30. The NTA said the feature had been used to fabricate after-the-event claims of question paper leaks in national examinations.
However, Sarthak Siddhant argued that blocking the platform could affect many legitimate users.
Calling the move a bad idea, Siddhant said Telegram is widely used by teachers and professionals to share educational resources. He added that the platform also serves as a medium for secure communication, media consumption and business operations, with many organisations relying on Telegram's API to run automated services and customer support functions, according to Hindustan Times.
Taking to X, Siddhant questioned the logic behind banning an entire communication platform because of misinformation concerns.
"Just because a communication medium has elements of misinformation, we have decided to shut it down," he wrote.
He also questioned whether the same logic should apply to other platforms and institutions.
"Doesn't WhatsApp have elements of misinformation? Doesn't the Indian press? What's the reasoning behind shutting down entire Telegram?" he asked.
Siddhant further wondered whether platforms such as X should also be shut down because misinformation exists there.
"In fact, let's shut down every medium of dissent because dissent is misinformation after all? Let's ban people talking to each other because misinformation, fake news, mute society," he wrote.
Nisarga Adhikary, the ethical hacker who had previously highlighted alleged security gaps in CBSE's On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, also questioned the effectiveness of the move.
According to Adhikary, Telegram's architecture makes it difficult to block completely because users can easily rely on proxies and other circumvention methods.
"Can't stop paper leaks, ends up blocking Telegram. Blocking Telegram totally isn't even possible; Telegram is designed in such a way which easily allows people to use proxies and other methods of circumvention," he said in a post on X.
The criticism comes as authorities seek to prevent the spread of misinformation and alleged paper leak claims surrounding the upcoming NEET re-examination. However, critics argue that restricting access to an entire platform may not be the most effective solution.
