India Cracks Down on Telegram: Ordered to Remove Pirated Movies, OTT Shows and Infringing Content

The Government of India has issued a notice to Telegram, directing the messaging platform to take action within 15 days against the widespread circulation of pirated films, OTT content, and other copyrighted audio-visual material. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has asked Telegram to strengthen its systems for detecting, reporting, disabling access to, and removing infringing content in order to protect India's creator economy, film industry, broadcasters, OTT platforms, producers, and distributors. The platform has also been instructed to act against repeat offenders, including channels, groups, bots, accounts, and administrators involved in piracy, and submit an Action Taken Report detailing the steps taken. The move comes days after the government issued a separate notice to WhatsApp over concerns surrounding its upcoming username feature and potential misuse for impersonation and digital fraud.