Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2026 23:59:28 +0000
Extracted Body:
One of the key grievances the government has had with messaging platform Telegram is its limited search feature. While, according to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Telegram has been telling the government for the last four years that it has been “working on it”, the platform has opined that “the outright blocking or banning of particular keywords or phrases does not appear to be an appropriate solution”, for content moderation on the platform.
According to the platform, by not being a “content-push platform”, its architecture “inherently limits the discoverability”.
Preceding the June 16 temporary blocking order issued by the Centre against Telegram, the government had flagged in a June 3 meeting to the platform that it had failed to upgrade its restricted search feature. As an example, the government cited: the platform did not catch operating channels even if a simple search with ‘NEET leaked paper’ was conducted.
“It was informed by representatives from MeitY that for the last four years, Telegram has been stating that their search feature is limited and that Telegram is working on it … the Government can take a strict measure against the platform, since Telegram has consistently failed to proactively take measures to control the misuse of the platform,” the minutes from the June 3 meeting notes.
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In an email by Telegram to MeitY on June 5, the platform further explained that “search signals, keywords and other indicators form part of the overall moderation framework and are continuously used to identify and take action against unlawful content, including content relating to examination fraud and paper leak activities.”
It also explained that “the outright blocking or banning of particular keywords or phrases does not appear to be an appropriate solution, as such terms may also be used in legitimate contexts, including by students, educational stakeholders, media organisations and news reporting relating to the issue.”
The meeting, convened by MeitY after summoning Telegram representatives, was held to discuss the “scale and nature of the fraud network identified on Telegram with respect to the recent NEET (UG) 2026 examination cycle”.
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During this meeting, the government had also suggested IMEI-level blocking. However, in the June 5 email, Telegram clarified that it “does not utilise the suggested IMEI-based identifier as part of its enforcement architecture”.
According to the minutes of the meeting, NTA flagged that it “regularly informed and gave lists to Telegram about the operating channels,” which Telegram said it acted on. Telegram told the government officials that they have “modified their technical architecture exclusively for India”.
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The government also flagged the lack of proactive measures by Telegram “when the issue was at the peak”. However, Telegram said that it has implemented “extensive proactive and reactive moderation measures…”