New Delhi: The Central Government has taken an important decision regarding the country’s biggest medical entrance examination NEET-UG 2026. To maintain the transparency of the examination and prevent any kind of irregularities, the government has issued an order to temporarily ban the messaging platform Telegram. In recent times, many cases of alleged paper leaks and fake claims had come to light through Telegram, after which this decision was taken to take strict action.
According to the instructions issued by the government, the temporary ban on Telegram services in India will remain in effect till June 22, 2026. This order has been issued under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Let us tell you that the re-examination of NEET is to be conducted on June 21. In such a situation, it has become the priority of the government to prevent misuse of social media platforms before and immediately after the examination.
The purpose of this ban is said to be to stop the spread of rumours, fake question papers and misinformation to the examination. Officials say that some organized gangs were trying to mislead students and extort money from them by using Telegram.
The government has not only decided to limit the reach of the platform, but has also directed Telegram to temporarily shut down its message editing feature in India. This ban will remain in force till June 30, 2026. According to the investigating agencies, in many cases, old messages were later edited to make it appear as if the alleged question papers had already been shared. This increased the possibility of fake evidence of paper leak being prepared. For this reason, it was decided to ban the message editing feature, so that any kind of misleading information or fake evidence cannot be created.
The National Testing Agency has welcomed this step. The agency says that this decision was very important to maintain the fairness of the examination. According to NTA, some fraudulent groups were assuring students through Telegram that they had the original question paper of the exam. In return, huge sums of money were demanded from the candidates and their families. Complaints about such cases were continuously coming to the fore. The agency believes that the temporary ban will curb the activities of such networks to a great extent.
In recent times, misuse of social media platforms has increased during competitive examinations. Many cyber gangs try to take advantage of students’ anxiety and future expectations by selling them fake papers, fake answer keys and wrong information. The investigation also revealed that misleading material to the examination was being shared rapidly in some channels and groups of Telegram. In such a situation, the government took precautionary measures and decided to impose a temporary ban on the platform.
The authorities have appealed to the students and their parents not to believe in alleged question papers, leaked materials or suspicious claims to the examination available on any social media platform.
