Telegram Open to Mass Misuse, Says SG, Justifies Curbs

Telegram open to mass misuse, says SG, justifies curbs

NEW DELHI: Delhi high court will pronounce its judgment on Friday at 10.30am on Telegram's plea challenging the Centre's decision to temporarily block the messaging platform in India in view of the June 21 NEET retest. On Thursday, HC extensively questioned both sides. It wondered how the rights of 150 million users of the messaging app can be curtailed just because a section of students is taking an examination. Justice Tejas Karia also queried the counsel for Telegram if the platform can respond in real time to a complaint from authorities, such as in this case where the govt imposed the temporary ban on the ground that the app may be misused ahead of the NEET-UG retest.

Appearing for the Centre, attorney general R Venkatramani cautioned about the app's features. "This platform, because of its unique architecture, I would say, is a Frankenstein," he said, referring to the monster created by Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's famed novel. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta highlighted that the architecture of Telegram has all the potential for being misused. He pointed out that a single Telegram account can create up to 40 bots. “I will just give an example. In Telegram, one account user can create 40 bots. While in case of WhatsApp, it’s one bot per user. They have multiplicity-encouraging architecture and then the bots can further multiply … these can disseminate information via channels,” he said. Justifying the decision, SG said other similar platforms don’t have such features open to mass misuse. “This platform operates through the cloud. Even if they block it and someone does mischief, law enforcement agencies cannot reach actual user … since removal of an account deletes all data, leaving no evidence,” SG said, indicating that Telegram is frequently used for terrorist activities and that law enforcement agencies face challenges due to this architectural design in various jurisdictions. “We do not have this problem with intermediaries like Facebook or WhatsApp. This platform operates through the cloud, even if we block something and someone does mischief, law agencies can’t reach the person,” Mehta added.

The govt also told the court the editing feature of Telegram will remain disabled till June 30 as a precaution since it allows backdated modification of messages. Justice Karia, however, said, “How can we stop the rights of 150 million people just because one set of citizens are appearing in exams… The question is can you block somebody else’s rights to protect someone else’s rights.” While reserving the verdict, the judge asked the counsel for both parties to file their written submissions, if any, by 7pm during the day. “Once the paper is leaked, and becomes viral, how can you deal with it on a real-time basis and once a complaint is received, and by the time action is taken, damage is done,” the bench asked the platform to answer in response to the Centre’s stand that it is a temporary, time-bound, event-specific ban.