India’s Telegram Ban Pushes VPN Signups Up 150% in One Evening

India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology temporarily blocked Telegram on Tuesday, and Proton VPN’s signups from India jumped 150% in a single evening. The block targets a fraud investigation tied to a nationwide medical entrance exam, but the side effects have already escaped India’s borders. The order is set to expire on June 22.

More than 150 million Indian users are affected in what Sensor Tower data, cited by TechCrunch, calls Telegram’s largest market globally. India’s National Testing Agency (NTA) recommended the block after Telegram channels allegedly sold fake NEET-UG exam papers to students ahead of a June 21 re-test. The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), a New Delhi-based digital rights group, called the move “a band aid solution.” Telegram has filed a challenge in the Delhi High Court.

A 150% Spike in Hourly Signups

Proton VPN’s General Manager, David Peterson, posted on X that hourly signups from India spiked 150% on Thursday evening after MeitY’s order took effect. Proton VPN’s 150% signup spike from India landed within hours of the directive and included a chart showing the spike above Proton’s normal baseline. TechRadar reported the same figure in its follow-up coverage, framing the surge as a measure of how quickly Indians turned to VPNs when a major communications platform went dark.

• 150%: Proton VPN’s hourly signup spike from India on Thursday evening
• 150 million: Indian Telegram users affected by the block
• June 22, 2026: The block’s scheduled expiration
• June 30, 2026: The message-editing disable order expires

The pattern fits a wider regional trend. Surfshark’s research, cited by TechRadar, ranks India first in Asia and first in the world by restriction count, with at least 170 internet shutdowns or platform blocks logged since 2015. App-level blocks usually run through DNS and IP filtering, blunt enough to sweep in lawful use and simple enough to evade with a VPN. The government’s additional request, that Telegram disable its message-editing feature for Indian users until June 30, is the first time the company has been ordered to redesign a product feature for an entire country.

The NEET-UG Trigger Behind MeitY’s Order

The block traces back to the NEET-UG, the entrance exam for undergraduate medical and dental colleges in India. The NTA, which administers the exam, alleges that Telegram channels sold access to fake “leaked” question papers for the original May 3 sitting and, separately, for the June 21 re-test. On Tuesday, the NTA asked MeitY to restrict access to Telegram across India until June 22, a day after the re-test. The order sits on Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the country’s legal mechanism for blocking online services and content.

The NTA said in a press release that fraud rackets “defraud candidates appearing for the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination” by selling access to fake papers, and that some channels operated through VPNs or from outside India. NTA Director General Abhishek Singh defended the move to local media, arguing that limiting access reduces the pool of potential victims. “Even though they can continue operating the channels, if there is no clientele, the fraud will be prevented, and the students will be protected,” Singh said.

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov rejected the framing. In a post on X, Durov said the block “punishes 150 million+ ordinary Telegram users in India, not the insiders who leaked the exam materials.” He added that the leaks had moved to other apps, which would undercut the block’s stated purpose. In a separate post on his Telegram channel, Durov said the company had removed hundreds of channels linked to leaked exam materials and related scams in India in recent weeks, and made its “edited” label more prominent to help prevent so-called backdating scams. Google removed Telegram from its Play Store in India following the government’s announcement, though the app remained accessible to some users via VPN. TechCrunch, citing Sensor Tower, reported India is Telegram’s largest market globally, with an estimated 354 million monthly active users and nearly 600 million downloads since launch.

How the Telegram Block Leaked Across Borders

The technical method MeitY used to enforce the block spilled into global internet routing. Doug Madory, Director of Internet Analysis at Kentik, reported that an Indian telecom operator identified as AS18101 hijacked Border Gateway Protocol routes belonging to Telegram. Madory’s finding, relayed by TechRadar, showed traffic to Telegram servers being diverted into a routing black hole, knocking service offline not just in India but in countries where no ban was in force.

BGP, or Border Gateway Protocol, is the underlying system that directs traffic across the internet. When a provider hijacks these routes, it falsely advertises itself as the best path to a destination, sending data into a void. Durov’s account of the same incident went further, accusing Reliance directly and naming Meta’s partial ownership of Reliance as motive. Durov’s accusation of BGP hijacking against Reliance warned that “network operators are advised to reject unauthorized BGP announcements from Reliance (AS18101).” The UAE was among the countries where users lost Telegram access without any local ban in place.

The collateral effect was a direct illustration of how a national content block can break global infrastructure. Telegram has been blocked in roughly 30 countries historically, often during periods of political unrest, and most prior blocks used DNS or IP-level filtering that stayed inside national borders. The Indian order’s use of BGP routing hijacking made the spillover structural rather than incidental.

Durov framed the routing manipulation as intentional. “The sabotage seems intentional, as Reliance has ignored multiple reports,” he wrote. He called the method a “competitive war” and pointed to Meta’s partial ownership of Reliance as a possible motive. Reliance operates Jio, India’s largest telecom operator, which competes head-on with WhatsApp, the Meta-owned messaging app that dominates the Indian market. Durov said he would not be surprised if Reliance and WhatsApp were “also behind the recent lobbying effort to ban Telegram in India.”

Reliance Jio Denies the Routing Sabotage

Reliance Jio pushed back the next day, denying any involvement in the BGP misconfiguration that Durov had flagged on X. The company said it had not been involved in any such incident. Jio pointed out that it operates AS55836, while the network Durov named in his post was AS18101. Jio added that it continues to operate its network in line with global routing best practices.

Recent posts on X have led to speculation regarding Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (AS55836) and a BGP route misconfiguration. We categorically clarify that Jio has not been involved in any such incident. Jio continues to operate its network in accordance with global Internet routing best practices and the highest standards of reliability, security, and transparency.

Reliance Jio Infocomm, the Indian telecom operator named in Durov’s BGP hijacking claim, issued the statement on Wednesday. Industry sources cited by Business Today pointed out that the network identified by Durov, AS18101, may not belong to Reliance Jio at all, and could instead be associated with Reliance Communications, a separate entity, based on publicly available internet routing databases. The two companies share a brand lineage but are now distinct corporate entities.

Digital Rights Groups Call It a ‘Band-Aid’

The Internet Freedom Foundation issued a detailed statement on X the same day the order landed, calling the block disproportionate and legally overreaching. Internet Freedom Foundation’s full statement on the ban argued that Section 69A and the Blocking Rules of 2009 allow the government to block specific “information” on a computer resource, not to shut down an entire intermediary or force a company to redesign a feature for a whole country. The IFF noted that the NTA’s own press release admitted to securing “the prompt take-down of a substantial number of Telegram channels, groups and bots” through targeted action. The group read the press release as showing that a lighter tool was already working. The IFF also argued that the order fails the constitutional proportionality test laid down in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India and applied in Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India.

The contradiction sits at the heart of the IFF’s legal challenge. If channel-level takedowns were already containing the harm, the case for a platform-wide block collapses. The block punishes ordinary users, including students using Telegram for study groups and doubt-clearing, instead of addressing the systemic source of exam leaks, which IFF said originate from inside the printing and logistics chain.

The IFF also flagged a transparency gap. Only the NTA’s press release recommending the block has been made public. The actual MeitY order under Section 69A, and the reasoning of the committee behind it, have not been released. Under the Anuradha Bhasin precedent, orders restricting access must be published so they can be tested in court.

1. Publish the MeitY Section 69A order and the NTA recommendation behind it, with reasons
2. State the legal basis for the message-editing direction, or withdraw it
3. Confirm whether Telegram was given a hearing under the Blocking Rules
4. Lift the platform-wide restriction and rely on targeted takedowns

India’s Wider Pattern of Internet Restrictions

India’s Telegram block is one entry in a much longer ledger. According to Surfshark’s research, India has enforced at least 170 internet restrictions since 2015, a count that puts it first in Asia and first in the world by restriction number. The figure spans full national blackouts of mobile internet, regional shutdowns during civil unrest, and platform-level blocks like the one now hitting Telegram. India also shut down internet locally in Uttarakhand, Jaipur, and Haryana in June 2026 alone to maintain public order, TechRadar reported. Restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir are counted separately and add substantially to the total.

The approach to VPN use varies sharply by jurisdiction. Utah’s new VPN traffic law and how it works treats VPN traffic itself as something to be tracked under a child-protection statute, while India’s model treats individual apps as blockable targets. The Telegram block fits a national pattern of platform-level enforcement.

Telegram Heads to the Delhi High Court

Telegram filed its challenge in the Delhi High Court the same week the order landed. The company argues the block is disproportionate to the stated aim of curbing exam fraud.

The legal fight could decide more than Telegram’s status in India. A Telegram win would reinforce the narrow scope of Section 69A, which the IFF argues does not extend to switching off an entire intermediary or forcing product changes. If Telegram loses, the court would confirm a far broader reading: that an entire platform can be blocked when its services are abused by a minority of users. The MeitY order itself has not been published, which means the court case may turn on a document the public has not seen.

Until June 22, Indians seeking Telegram access will continue to rely on VPNs, and Proton’s signup chart keeps climbing. Singh told local media that limiting access reduces the pool of potential victims, an argument now being tested in the Delhi High Court. The block expires a day after the NEET-UG re-test.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did India block Telegram?

India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) ordered the block on June 17, 2026, on the recommendation of the National Testing Agency (NTA). The NTA alleged that Telegram channels were selling access to fake “leaked” NEET-UG exam papers ahead of a June 21 re-test. The block is set to expire on June 22, 2026.

What is NEET-UG?

NEET-UG is the National Eligibility Entrance Test (Undergraduate), the entrance exam for undergraduate medical and dental colleges in India. The original May 3 sitting was canceled over a paper leak scandal, and a re-test is scheduled for June 21, 2026.

What is BGP hijacking?

BGP, or Border Gateway Protocol, is the system that directs internet traffic between networks. In a BGP hijack, a network falsely advertises itself as the best route to a destination, sending traffic into a black hole. In this case, an Indian telecom operator identified as AS18101 reportedly hijacked routes belonging to Telegram, knocking service offline for users in the UAE and elsewhere.

When does India’s Telegram ban end?

The MeitY order runs until June 22, 2026, a day after the NEET-UG re-test. Separately, Telegram has been ordered to disable its message-editing feature for Indian users until June 30, 2026.

How are Indians accessing Telegram during the ban?

VPN signups spiked 150% above normal in the hours after MeitY’s order, Proton VPN reported. The block uses ISP-level DNS and IP filtering, which a VPN can route around by connecting through a server outside India.