CEO Blames Reliance, WhatsApp for Indian Ban Push

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov accused Reliance of disrupting Telegram access via BGP hijacking and claimed Reliance and Meta's WhatsApp lobbied for Telegram's temporary ban in India. He argued the ban unfairly punishes over 150 million users rather than addressing exam leaks. India banned Telegram until June 22 to prevent fraud networks from spreading fake NEET-UG paper claims.