Social media platform Telegram on Friday said it has taken decisive action against channels involved in leaking the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) paper which forced the cancellation of the competitive exam.
The cloud-based instant messaging service platform told News18: “We have blocked all channels which were involved in the circulation of unauthorised content related to the papers. We are supporting the government authorities in their investigations, in compliance with the law of the land.”
“Whenever we receive a complaint at any of our helpdesks regarding the legality of public content, we perform the necessary legal checks and take it down as per the guidelines of the IT Act 2000,” it added.
The response follows allegations that Telegram was the medium through which the UGC-NET question paper was leaked. News18 has reached out to Telegram for further clarification and more details about the detection of these channels and when the takedown occurred.
The UGC-NET, 2024, exam for the selection of junior research fellows, assistant professors and PhD scholars was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on June 18 in two shifts across the country.
The next day, the University Grants Commission received inputs from the National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (l4C), which functions under the Union Home Ministry, that the paper was available on the darknet and was allegedly being sold on messaging platforms.
On Thursday, the CBI registered an FIR into the UGC-NET paper leak case against unidentified persons on a reference from the Union Education Ministry.
Addressing a press conference, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had confirmed that the leaked question paper circulated on Telegram matched the original.
“Fresh examination shall be conducted, for which information shall be shared separately,” the government has said.
The CBI will reportedly work in close coordination with the I4C while initiating its own darknet exploration softwares and systems to nail down the perpetrators. According to the complaint from the Education Ministry, the inputs from I4C, “prima-facie indicate that the integrity of the examination may have been compromised”, officials said.
It was also reported that multiple links were shared with the Education Ministry, where the material was for sale. The paper was made available to several groups many days before the exam. Meanwhile, screenshots of some Telegram groups, chats, and payments have also been shared on social media.
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