The Central Government has issued a notice to messaging platform Telegram, directing it to take effective measures to curb the circulation of pirated films, OTT content and other copyrighted audio-visual material on its platform. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has asked the company to submit an Action Taken Report within 15 days, making clear that merely removing content after receiving complaints will not be considered sufficient compliance going forward.
According to government officials, the ministry has informed Telegram that copyright infringement is not merely a civil violation but also a criminal offence under the Copyright Act, 1957 and the Cinematograph Act, 1952, and the platform has therefore been directed to adopt more proactive and effective measures to prevent the distribution of illegal content. The notice states plainly that Telegram cannot simply wait for the government to identify piracy channels one by one before acting, with officials noting that a purely reactive, channel-by-channel takedown approach may not fulfil the due diligence obligations required under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Information Technology Rules, 2021. Sources said the ministry has also sought details of Telegram’s grievance redressal mechanism for handling complaints from film producers, OTT platforms, broadcasters and law enforcement agencies, reminding the platform of its legal responsibilities as an intermediary under India’s information technology laws.
The Second Major Government Action Against Telegram in Weeks
This notice does not arrive in isolation. It comes barely weeks after the Centre took a considerably more drastic step against the same platform. Between June 16 and June 22, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology temporarily blocked access to Telegram across India, a precautionary measure taken ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination amid concerns that leaked examination papers were being circulated through the app by organised cheating rackets. The National Testing Agency stated at the time that the restrictions had been imposed in the interest of public order and to prevent fraud targeting candidates. The government also separately directed Telegram to disable its message-editing feature until June 30 on the NTA’s recommendation.
That earlier action was subsequently tested in court and upheld. The Delhi High Court ruled that the government had strictly followed the procedure prescribed under law while invoking emergency blocking powers, and that the restrictions satisfied the test of proportionality, a judicial endorsement that likely strengthens the government’s position as it now presses Telegram on an entirely separate compliance front. Taken together, the NEET-UG blocking order and this new piracy notice paint a picture of a regulator increasingly willing to treat Telegram’s encrypted, channel-based architecture as a recurring enforcement liability rather than a one-off concern.
Not Telegram’s First Piracy Notice, and the Numbers Behind the Problem
This is also not the government’s first attempt to compel Telegram into stronger anti-piracy action. On March 11, 2026, Telegram was formally notified under the IT Act to remove 3,142 channels illegally sharing content owned by producers and OTT platforms, with the government simultaneously blocking access to roughly 800 piracy websites through internet service providers. That the ministry has now returned with a fresh notice, demanding a formal compliance report within a fixed 15-day window, suggests the March action did not produce the systemic change officials were seeking.
The financial stakes underlying this pressure are considerable. According to a Ministry of Information and Broadcasting report, around 90 million users accessed pirated video content in India in 2024, resulting in an estimated $1.2 billion in revenue loss, equivalent to roughly 10 per cent of the country’s legal video industry, with that figure projected to potentially double by 2029 if left unaddressed. India has also been persistently listed by US trade authorities as a “notorious market” for intellectual property piracy, a designation that reflects what has historically been described as a sluggish enforcement response.
Why Encrypted Platforms Present a Distinct Enforcement Challenge
Indian courts have developed an increasingly sophisticated toolkit to fight piracy on conventional websites, including dynamic injunctions, first introduced by the Delhi High Court in 2019, which allow copyright holders to have mirror and redirect domains blocked without filing fresh litigation each time, and the more expansive Dynamic+ injunctions introduced in 2023, extended even to live sporting broadcasts. Yet these mechanisms were designed primarily for public, indexable websites, not closed, encrypted messaging platforms.
Telegram’s architecture presents a structurally different challenge: because its channels operate as encrypted, closed distribution networks rather than publicly crawlable web pages, authorities cannot easily monitor or intercept the sharing of pirated files without specific tips or direct infiltration of individual groups, a limitation that has made the platform a persistent haven for piracy networks even as enforcement against conventional websites has matured. Under the IT Rules, 2021, intermediaries are required to act on valid copyright complaints within 36 hours or risk losing the safe harbour protection that shields them from liability, but experts note this framework still fundamentally depends on rights holders identifying infringing content first, precisely the reactive model the government’s latest notice explicitly says is no longer sufficient.
Part of a Broader Pattern of Big Tech Scrutiny
The Telegram notice arrives amid a wider tightening of regulatory scrutiny on major digital platforms operating in India. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has separately issued a notice to Meta over WhatsApp’s proposed username feature, and the government has also sought an explanation from Meta regarding allegations that Instagram advertisements were promoting child sexual abuse material. The government has warned that if pirated content continues to remain available on Telegram, if compliance is found inadequate, or if the Action Taken Report itself proves incomplete, further action may be initiated under the applicable legal framework, leaving open the possibility of measures considerably more severe than a compliance notice should Telegram’s response fall short.
Experts from the Future Crime Research Foundation, commenting on the notice, said encrypted messaging platforms are increasingly being misused not only for legitimate communication but also for copyright infringement, digital piracy and other cyber-enabled offences. They emphasised that platforms should strengthen content moderation systems, establish effective grievance redressal mechanisms and adopt proactive monitoring practices to better protect creators, rights holders and users while maintaining a secure digital ecosystem, a recommendation that echoes almost exactly the standard the government’s notice now expects Telegram to meet within a fortnight.
