MIB increases pressure on Telegram; seeks proactive action against piracy

Telegram has been accused in several court cases of taking late or little action in response to reports of piracy. File | Photo credit: Reuters

“The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) on Saturday (July 4, 2026) demanded that Telegram take proactive measures in detecting and removing pirated content on its platform,” a senior official said. The move marks a fresh escalation between the government and the Dubai-based messaging app following a week-long ban ahead of retaking the National Eligibility Test (NEET).

Telegram has been accused in several court cases of taking late or little action in response to reports of piracy. The app has proven to be a haven for pirates because it places few limits on the size of files users can upload to channels for free, angering entertainment industry executives who have seen it turn into a convenient hub for pirated books, newspapers, TV series and movies.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said that the company spends (without earning back) tens of millions of dollars for its operations in India. A Telegram spokesperson had no immediate comment to The Hind in response to the announcement.

While Telegram has sought to comply more quickly in recent years with both court orders and private complaints of infringement, the I&B Department has sent the firm its own notices, such as ordering the removal of more than 3,100 URLs in March of this year. Telegram complied with this order.

That may not be enough, and the ministry is now demanding that the firm do more to automatically detect piracy. A note shared by a senior official describing the announcement said it aimed to create a “clear shift from phasing out to platform responsibility” and that the firm “is required to exercise due diligence under the IT Act and IT Rules”.

According to section 3, paragraph 1 letter b) of the 2021 IT Rules, intermediaries such as Telegram are required to “use reasonable efforts to ensure that users of (their) computer resources do not share any information that … infringes any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary right.”

Telegram fought its week-long ban in the Delhi High Court, cited by the National Testing Agency as a way to prevent misinformation about leaks of enabled features that the app must backdate the timestamp on messages. Judge Tejas Karia ruled that the ban was reasonable and legal.

Shortly after this order, Telegram was also served with a notice on the username feature by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, which asked WhatsApp to suspend the rollout of a similar feature. The username feature has come under government scrutiny because it allows users to hide their phone number when contacting a stranger. Telegram and Signal also have such a feature and the developers of both these apps have received a similar notification as WhatsApp. Telegram was asked to respond to the ministry’s notice within fifteen days.

It is not clear whether the IT ministry has specifically directed Telegram to disable the feature. Arattai, a messaging app developed by Zoho Corporation, said it also received such a notification and disabled the feature. Telegram’s username feature remains available at the time of writing.

Published – 4 Jul 2026 13:48 IST