The Center on Thursday explained before the Delhi High Court why Telegram had opted for the temporary ban ahead of NEET re-examination scheduled on June 21.
Appearing on behalf of the Government of India, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta said Telegram’s bot architecture makes it uniquely vulnerable to widespread information dissemination. He told the court that a single Telegram user can create up to 40 bots, which in turn can multiply and form large-scale botnets. LiveLaw I mentioned.
Referring to a government report, Secretary General Tushar Mehta said Telegram’s bot infrastructure allows information to be disseminated in large quantities, enabling the creation of sophisticated networks with minimal human supervision. He said that this feature does not exist in the same way on other messaging platforms.
Read also | Telegram opposes the temporary ban in India: “You should also close malls and block roads”
The Secretary-General also confirmed that Telegram operates through a cloud-based system, making it difficult for law enforcement agencies to identify the actual users behind illegal activities. Even if a platform bans an account, investigators often face challenges tracking down the individual responsible, according to Livelaw.
“This feature significantly hinders law enforcement agencies’ ability to identify co-conspirators, trace chains of communication, and determine attribution during an investigation,” Mehta said.
“Most favorable to terrorist acts”
The Secretary-General also referred to a government report that described Telegram as a preferred platform for terrorist activities due to certain features built into its architecture.
He told the court that Telegram faced regulatory and law enforcement challenges in several other jurisdictions as well because of the design of its platform, according to the Bar and Bench.
The Secretary-General clarified that the government did not allege non-compliance by Telegram. Instead, he said that although the platform complied with government directives, the actions it had taken were ineffective in addressing concerns raised by the authorities.
The issue related to Telegram’s editing feature, which was reported by the government
SG also pointed out Telegram’s message editing feature, claiming that it lacked a visible timestamp indicating when edits were made. Explaining this concern, he said that if exam papers were distributed on June 21, a user could upload them on June 22 and then change the date and time afterwards to make it look as if they were published on June 18. He told the court that a similar issue arose during the 2024 NEET controversy, according to the Bar and Bench.
Opposing the ban, Telegram’s lawyer said banning the entire platform was disproportionate and unfair to its 150 million users in India. The company confirmed that it has complied with all government directives issued since June 1, and confirmed that despite removing content related to the alleged leak of NEET papers, the authorities have proceeded to suspend access to the entire platform.
