NEW DELHI: Telegram on Friday (Jun 19) lost its bid to overturn an Indian government order temporarily banning the messaging app, with a New Delhi court ruling that the government’s actions, aimed at preserving the integrity of a key med school exam, were legal and reasonable.

The ban of the app from Jun 16 to Jun 22 has stirred an intense debate in the world’s most populous nation. 

Free speech rights activists say it has set a worrying precedent that cements government powers to curb the use of any messaging platform whenever it sees fit.

The government put the block in place after the results of the country’s exam for students hoping to get into medical schools were scrapped last month amid allegations that the question paper had been leaked.

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The government is “empowered … to issue directions for blocking the public access to Telegram”, Delhi High Court Justice Tejas Karia said in his ruling.

Telegram, which has more than 150 million users in India and counts the country as its biggest market, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the verdict. 

The Indian government also did not respond to a request for comment.

TELEGRAM SAID TO AFFORD MORE ANONYMITY

“It sets a concerning precedent with consequences for the open internet that extend well beyond this case,” digital rights group Internet Freedom Foundation said on X after the verdict.

The block only affected Telegram, with the government arguing that the app represented a unique case, citing features such as the easy recreation of blocked channels and the way phone numbers and username-based interactions can be concealed, which create “a persistent enforcement challenge”.

Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov has publicly criticised the ban, saying it punishes the platform’s users, while the exam leaks have moved elsewhere.

The temporary ban, which took Telegram offline and removed it from app stores this week, was implemented within hours by Indian telecom companies as well as the likes of Google and Apple.

It marks the most high-profile court tussle between a global tech giant and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government this year. 

Last year, the government reduced the number of officials who can order content takedowns following a bitter legal battle with Elon Musk’s X.

The Telegram ban was preceded by days of private sparring between the two sides in which the Indian government rebuked Telegram for not proactively removing accounts offering purported leaked exam papers, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Telegram in court accused the government of deliberately omitting details of the company’s proactive processes. 

Telegram has said it took down more than 900 links involving unlawful exam-related content.