Within hours of the Indian Government's proclamation of restrictions on the social messaging platform Telegram to curb misinformation ahead of Re-NEET, an online debate ignited among the teen hacker Nisarga Adhikary, CBSE whistleblower Sarthak Sidhant, and a professor and director of IIT Kanpur. While the first two questioned the Centre’s move, the latter believes that interim restrictions were necessary to combat fabricated leak news. The issue arose when 19-year-old ethical hacker Nisarga reposted NTA’s tweet, slamming the concerned authorities for blocking Telegram: “Can’t stop paper leaks, ends up blocking Telegram,” he wrote, alleging that restricting the app entirely is not possible, as it’s built in a way that allows people to use proxies and other methods of circumvention. Soon after, IIT Kanpur Director Manindra Agrawal commented on his post, saying, “We will have to sit him down and explain.” He also responded to another technology enthusiast who argued that numerous apps are available on the market for circulating leaked papers, saying, “Agree. There are multiple ways of sharing leaked paper, and closing access to Telegram is not going to solve it. However, as I mentioned above, the problem being addressed is different. Telegram allows one to fake a leak without leaving a trace.” Sarthak Sidhant, a whistleblower who claimed that CBSE had lowered its qualifying criteria to award a contract to COEMPT Eduteck, also joined the conversation. “Just because a COMMUNICATION MEDIUM has elements of misinformation, we have decided to shut it down,” he wrote, asking the IIT director whether or not WhatsApp or the Indian press has elements of disinformation. “What's the reasoning behind shutting down entire Telegram?” he inquired. Clarifying the government’s stance, the director asserted that the issue with Telegram channels is not the sharing of leaked papers, as there are plenty of ways of doing it, but rather that they can be used to spread fake news of leaks that appear genuine. “It was done by someone during JEE Advanced. It causes unnecessary confusion,” he added. Sarthak further argued that even the microblogging site X is being used to circulate fake news; we should shut it down too. “In fact, let's shut down every medium of dissent because dissent is misinformation after all,” he remarked. When he insisted upon the fact that misinformation can be spread anywhere and banning an entire medium on which many Indian businesses run, teachers share resources, and communications happen, is not the right way to target it, the director responded, saying, “Just do some digging about how Telegram is different in this context.” In the end, the director contended that Telegram has a special feature that allows the editing of posts WITHOUT reflecting that the edit has been made. “This is dangerous. No other major social media channel has this. One can still argue that banning is not a good idea. But the context of the ban needs to be set right.” His claim was, however, denied by both Sarthak and Nisarga, who shared screenshots indicating that Telegram does reflect the ‘edited’ option. The Indian Government announced temporary restrictions on Telegram to restrict the circulation of fake news ahead of Re-NEET scheduled for June 21, 2026. The ministry has further asked the platform to disable its message-editing feature in India until June 30. "The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has issued notification 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," the NTA said in an official statement. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Education, CBSE, JEE, UPSC and around the world. Deepali Samaniya has been covering education for the past 2 years with a passion for SEO and a knack for crafting engaging stories. She specialises in... View More