The central government on Wednesday (March 11) tightened the noose on copyright infringement, ordering instant messaging platform Telegram to remove more than 3,100 channels within three hours. The channels were removed for violating various provisions of the Copyright Act 1957.
According to government sources quoted by AN, the move to remove more than 3,000 channels follows complaints received from OTT platforms. According to reports, the government has received complaints from JioCinema, Amazon Prime Video and others. They blamed widespread piracy of copyrighted content on Telegram.
When it was found that the channels were actually hosting and distributing content owned by other content owners and OTT platforms, the central government issued orders.
In a notification, Joint Secretary C Senthil Rajan said that illegal content was “hosted, shared and distributed” on the intermediary platform in violation of the Copyright Act 1957.
“The intermediary Telegram is hereby notified to remove and disable access to the affected Telegram channels, including all of their content, within three hours of the issuance of this communication without tampering with the evidence in any way,” the notice said.
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The order identified a total of 3,142 Telegram channels for removal.
Earlier in October 2025, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had announced an amendment to the Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Code of Conduct) Rules, 2025 to amend the Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Code of Ethics) Rules, 2021 (the “IT Rules, 2021”).
These changes strengthen the due diligence framework for intermediaries under the Information Technology Act 2000 (“IT Act”). In particular, changes in rule 3 paragraph 1 letter d) implement additional safeguards to ensure that the removal of illegal content is carried out in a transparent, proportionate and responsible manner. The revised rules will take effect on November 15, 2025.
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The IT Rules 2021 were first announced on 25th February 2021. It was later amended in October 2022 and then in April 2023.
They impose due diligence obligations on intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, to ensure online safety, security and accountability.
Under Rule 3(1)(d), intermediaries are required to remove illegal information after they acquire actual knowledge either through a court order or notice from the appropriate government.
The review by MeitY highlighted the need for additional safeguards to ensure higher-level accountability, precise specification of illegal content and regular review of higher-level government guidance.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI)
