The Central government has issued a notice to Telegram, directing the messaging platform to take immediate action on complaints related to film piracy and illegally shared OTT content.
In the notice, the government said Telegram must act firmly against pirated movies and OTT material circulating on its platform, and ensure protection of the economic interests of India’s creative sector, including producers, distributors and OTT platforms.
Telegram has been asked to submit a report within 15 days detailing the steps taken. The government also underlined that copyright infringement in India is not merely a civil issue, but a serious criminal offence under the Copyright Act, 1957 and the Cinematograph Act, 1952.
The notice noted that Telegram has so far followed a practice of removing only specific channels flagged through government complaints. It said the platform should instead proactively detect and act against such violations without waiting for directions.
The government warned that failure to comply could lead to Telegram losing safe-harbour protections available under the Information Technology Act. It also recalled earlier action against over 3,000 Telegram channels hosting pirated content, and noted that Telegram had previously faced a one-week ban in India in connection with the NEET question paper leak case before services resumed after the ban period ended.
