Upon the request of NTA, the government has decided to ban the Telegram app in the country until the NEET exam

The central government, at the request of NTA, has restricted the Telegram app in the country until June 22 ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination.

In addition to the restriction, the app's message-editing feature will also be disabled until June 30.

"Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has issued a notification and a direction under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, restricting access to the Telegram platform in India for a defined and limited period ending 22 June 2026, covering the day of the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination and its immediate aftermath. A direction requiring the platform to disable, in India, the message-editing feature in respect of messages already posted, for a defined period ending 30 June 2026, addressing the specific structural feature through which the platform has been used to fabricate after-the-event “paper leak” evidence in respect of national examinations," read the official statement of NTA.

This step has been taken to curb the false claims regarding the paper leak and misinformation circulating on the app. 

The government and the NTA received a major setback as the NEET examination had to be cancelled owing to a question paper leak. Now, when the examination is to be conducted again, the government is trying to make sure that nothing goes wrong this time.