Telegram Faces 15-Day Deadline in India Over Movie Piracy

The Indian government has issued a strict notice to Telegram, demanding decisive action against the widespread distribution of pirated films and television series. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting gave the messaging platform a 15-day deadline to address the copyright violations and to submit a formal report on the measures implemented.

Marking a major regulatory shift, the government no longer wants to simply block individual channels distributing illegal content.

Officials now seek to hold the platform itself accountable, necessitating a fundamental overhaul of Telegram’s internal moderation systems.

Moving forward, the platform must implement independent, proactive mechanisms to prevent piracy rather than just deleting channels after receiving government notifications.

This demand could be crucial for Telegram’s continued operation in India. Under Indian law, copyright infringement carries both civil and criminal liabilities, with the Copyright Act of 1957 and the Cinematograph Act of 1952 imposing severe sanctions for non-compliance.

Additionally, Indian security agencies previously requested that Telegram and Signal disable anonymous messaging features to prevent illegal activities.

The government even temporarily restricted Telegram’s operations last month. Since Telegram is also highly popular in countries like Uzbekistan, these compounding global legal pressures may ultimately force changes to the platform’s overarching privacy and content policies.