India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ordered Apple and Google to delist Telegram from their app stores on June 17, 2026, cutting off an estimated 104–150 million users ahead of the NEET-UG medical entrance re-examination scheduled for June 21. The order, executed under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, is explicitly temporary and set to expire on June 22, one day after the re-test. The National Testing Agency had cancelled the original May 3 exam amid paper leak allegations, with Telegram channels implicated in distributing leaked materials. An additional directive requires Telegram to disable its message-editing feature for Indian users until June 30, targeting the mechanism investigators say cheating networks used.
The ban immediately disrupted the TON blockchain ecosystem, causing its native token GRAM to drop roughly 1.7%, trading near $1.64. India is Telegram’s largest single market and a top crypto-holder nation, with an estimated 93 million Bitcoin holders, making the move a significant blow to distribution for Gram-based projects and Web3 mini-apps that rely on Telegram’s built-in wallet and messaging funnel.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov responded sharply, accusing Reliance Industries of waging a competitive war. He alleged that Reliance used BGP hijacking via autonomous system AS18101 to reroute and disrupt Telegram access for millions of users outside India, including in the UAE, and that the sabotage ignored multiple reports. Durov further claimed that Reliance and WhatsApp lobbied jointly to impose the ban, citing Reliance’s partial ownership by Meta. A senior telecom industry source rejected the conflation of Reliance Communications (which operates subsea cables and holds AS18101) with Reliance Industries (parent of Jio, in which Meta holds only a minority non-operational stake), calling Durov’s statement either misunderstanding or deliberate misinformation.
The Internet Freedom Foundation criticized the ban as a disproportionate band-aid solution. Whistleblower Nisarg Adhikary noted that exam cheats would simply migrate to other apps. Telegram has challenged the ban in the Delhi High Court, with a hearing expected before the exam date. The outcome could set a precedent for how governments balance messaging platform access with exam integrity, while Durov’s BGP hijacking claims may trigger investigations by UAE or international telecom regulators.
