The Central government has told the Delhi High Court that instant messaging platform Telegram is becoming the new dark web, linking criminals and enabling their illegal activities.

The Central government made these submissions in the affidavit filed by it opposing Telegram's petition challenging the government's decision to ban its operations in India till June 22, ahead of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test undergraduate (NEET-UG) re-exams.

"Telegram has become the new dark web, linking threat actors. Criminals have rapidly adopted Telegram to post links on channels that connect to dark web forums through deep web links, making it hard for authorities to track and attribute criminals," the counter affidavit reads.

The government's decision was founded on concerns that Telegram had been used by organised cheating networks involved in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, which had led to the cancellation of the exam originally held in May 2026.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) issued a direction under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, restricting access to the Telegram platform in India till June 22.

Another order directed the platform to disable, till June 30, the message-editing feature for messages already posted.

The government described the measure as necessary to protect the integrity of the re-examination scheduled for 21 June.

Authorities argued that Telegram channels were being used to distribute leaked or fake question papers, coordinate fraud and manipulate message timestamps through the platform’s editing feature.

Telegram filed a writ petition challenging this ban, contending that such a wholesale blocking of the app was impermissible and unconstitutional. The company also claimed to have taken down more than 900 links related to unlawful NEET content and deployed artificial intelligence, machine learning tools and manual moderation to identify violations.

The Centre has now filed its response to Telegram's petition, to justify its temporary ban of the app.

Among other arguments, the Central government has submitted that a Telegram channel titled "Neet Mafia" was identified, which had approximately 18,617 subscribers when last checked.

This channel, according to the affidavit, was actively disseminating content relating to alleged NEET examination paper leakage, advance booking arrangements, payment collection mechanisms and assurances regarding availability of examination-related material.

"The scale of the said channel itself demonstrates the capability of Telegram to facilitate mass dissemination of unlawful examination-related content to thousands of users simultaneously", the Centre's counter affidavit adds.

According to the Central government, Telegram's unique technical architecture, which is completely cloud-based, permits the transmission of large volumes of content.

The platfrom also permits groups of up to two lakh members and public channels capable of broadcasting content to virtually unlimited audiences, thereby significantly amplifying the reach of any unlawful content, the Centre's counter affidavit states.

Additionally, the platform enables the use of bots and usernames instead of phone numbers, which has made it fertile ground for criminal activity by persons who seek to conceal their identities, the Centre has argued.

Some of the illegal activities mentioned in the counter affidavit are drug trafficking, terrorism, child exploitation, cyber scams and fraud.

"Extremist violent acts performed by terror organizations and other radical content is being propagated by telegram groups and channels by the entities which are associated with terrorist organization to create misinformation or have intention to destabilise public order," the affidavit reads.

The government has further claimed that the messaging platform is being used to transmit Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM), and pirated movies, web series, and other paid media content.

The affidavit also states that there has been a significant increase in cybercrime complaints reported on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP), which state that Telegram was used as the medium to perpetrate the fraudulant and criminal cyber activities.

The Centre has additionally alleged that Telegram bots have been facilitating access to citizens' personal data, including private mobile numbers and aadhaar details.

"When such information becomes repetitive and rampant, the only option is to block all information hosted by the intermediary, since technically it is not possible to segregate the unlawful content from the lawful content," the affidavit states.

The Centre has further submitted that it is committed to holding a fair Re NEET examination and ensuring the integrity of the said re-exam.

"Any delay in preventing information being blocked under section 69A would have resulted into the consequences contemplated under section 69A of the Act and would have led to mass student unrest, disruption of public order and incitement to commissioning of cognizable offence," the afffidavit explains.

The case is being heard by a Bench comprising Justice Tejas Karia.

Telegram's writ petition was filed through advocate Madhav Khosla.