Telegram may be banned in India

New Delhi: The Union government is investigating Telegram over its alleged misuse in criminal activities such as extortion and gambling, an official said, adding that the messaging app could even be banned depending on the probe’s findings. The revelation comes as Telegram’s 39-year-old founder and Chief Executive Officer Pavel Durov was arrested in Paris on August 24 over the app’s moderation policies. Reports said he was detained for failing to prevent criminal activities on the app.

“The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) (under MHA) and MeitY have been looking into P2P communications on Telegram,” a government official said on condition of anonymity.

The probe, being conducted by the ministry of home affairs and the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY), was specifically looking into criminal activities such as extortion and gambling, the official said.

The official did not rule out the platform, which has more than 5 million registered users in India, being blocked but said the decision would be based on what the probe throws up.

In recent years, Telegram and some other social media platforms have emerged as breeding grounds for criminal activities, including scams that have cost citizens crores of rupees.

Telegram was in the news recently over the UGC-NEET controversy, which led to student protests and forced the Supreme Court to intervene. The question paper for the medical entrance exam was leaked and was allegedly widely shared on Telegram, an encrypted messaging app.

The paper was being sold for anywhere between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 on the platform, according to reports.