India, June 16 -- In an unprecedented move, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has ordered a temporary nationwide ban on the messaging platform Telegram until June 22, 2026. The decision comes as a preemptive measure to protect the integrity of the upcoming NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination, scheduled for June 21.

In addition to the week-long blackout, the government has directed Telegram to disable its message-editing feature for all users in India through June 30.

According to the National Testing Agency (NTA), the strict measures were requested after authorities discovered cheating syndicates exploiting a specific loophole in Telegram's architecture.

Currently, Telegram allows channel administrators to alter...