Founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Telegram’s Founder Pavel Durov accused Reliance Communications of sabotaging access to the social media platform outside India hijacking internet traffic, shortly after the Indian government banned the app in preparation for NEET-UG re-examination.

“Indian telecom Reliance is sabotaging access to Telegram for millions of users OUTSIDE India (including the UAE) via a rogue method called BGP hijacking. The sabotage seems intentional, as Reliance has ignored multiple reports. This may be part of a competitive war, as Reliance is partially owned by Meta — the company behind WhatsApp,” said Durov in his tweet, referring to a minority stake held by Meta in Reliance’s digital arm Jio.

While asking network operators to reject such route hijacks, Durov also threatened to report to UAE authorities about the “alarming abuse of global Internet routing.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Reliance/WhatsApp were also behind the recent lobbying effort to ban Telegram in India,” he said.

While Reliance Communications was unavailable for comment, Reliance Jio responded to the development with the following tweet, “Recent posts on X have led to speculation regarding Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (AS55836) and a BGP route misconfiguration. We categorically clarify that Jio has not been involved in any such incident. Jio continues to operate its network in accordance with global Internet routing best practices and the highest standards of reliability, security, and transparency.”

The news comes on the heels of the Indian government ordering Google and Apple to delist Telegram from their app stores until June 22 to address concerns of paper leaks for the upcoming National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test re-exam on June 21.

Addressing the broad allegations made by Durov, multiple sources aware of the matter told businessline that the Founder was “confused.” While one source questioned how a company that doesn’t operate in UAE can be suspected of a hijacking attacks, another said Durov was mixing two separate entities. Reliance Communications, preciously owned by Anil Ambani is currently under IBC resolution. On the other hand, Reliance Jio is the digital and telecom arm of Reliance Industries that has entered into a partnership with tech giant Meta.

“Meta is only a minority investor in Jio and has no role in its day-to-day operations or management. Conflating the two demonstrates either a lack of understanding of the sector or a deliberate attempt to spread misinformation,” a source said on anonymity to the media.

Published on June 17, 2026