An Indian investigation found that Telegram is being used extensively to share child sexual abuse material and perpetrate financial scams, according to a report by the government, which ‌added it was “proactively monitoring” groups on the messaging app.

According to a Reuters report from New Delhi yesterday, the 35-page report by the Home Ministry’s Cybercrime Coordination Centre was submitted in court as part of the government’s successful defence of a one-week ban of the app after a question paper to the country’s medical school exam was allegedly leaked.

In that case, Telegram was accused of not doing enough to prevent misinformation in its channels — a charge it denies. The ban was lifted on Tuesday June 23), though a feature which allows the editing of old messages will not be ⁠able to be used until June 30.

The Indian government said in the report it is concerned about Telegram’s privacy features, which allow users to interact without needing to reveal a phone number, making identity detection difficult.

That is not possible on WhatsApp, the most popular chat app in India with over 500 million users.

“Cyber criminals use Telegram to access closed groups/channels … (India) is proactively monitoring such Telegram groups and channels,” said the report, which was not public but was reviewed by Reuters.

Telegram and the (Indian) Home Ministry did not respond to Reuters queries about the report.

The scrutiny of the app in India, which is its biggest market with more than 150 million users, is only the latest of several investigations.

France in 2024 launched a probe into activity by organised crime on the app. That ‌same year, ⁠Telegram was at the centre of an uproar in South Korea over sexually explicit deepfake images and videos of women that were often found in the app’s chat rooms, and in Spain, its use was temporarily suspended over copyright concerns.

In April, Britain’s communications regulator launched an investigation into Telegram after evidence suggested child sexual abuse material was being shared on the platform. Telegram has denied the allegations and said since 2018 it has “virtually eliminated” the public spread of child sexual ⁠abuse material on its platform through detection algorithms.