Telegram founder Pavel Durov publicly accused Reliance of cutting off access to the messaging app for more than 150 million users on June 16, 2026. The block, ordered by the Indian government, was set to last until midnight on June 22.
Durov did not mince words. 'This punishes 150M+ ordinary Telegram users in India, not the insiders who leaked the exam materials,' he said, adding that 'the leaks just moved to other apps.' The allegation placed Reliance Jio, a subsidiary of Mukesh Ambani's conglomerate Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), at the center of a debate that stretches well beyond exam integrity: who controls what India's 1.4 billion people can access on their phones, and at whose instruction?
