As the Delhi High Court upheld the government’s blocking order of Telegram till June 22, several users in India had to rely on other tools to access the platform. Some of the techniques Indians have been using to access Telegram include proxy networks and VPNs.
How to access Telegram through proxy networks? “A proxy server is an intermediary that sits between your device and the internet, forwarding your requests through another server to improve privacy and control,” according to GeekforGeeks. Telegram supports proxy networks natively inside the app if users follow the following steps:
Telegram → Settings → Data & storage → Proxy Settings → Enable the proxy and configure it
Here users are given two options: MTProto Proxy and SOCKS5 Proxy.
If you choose MTPronto on Telegram, you’ll have to enter these details: server, port, and secret. You can find the full list of active proxy network details here: [ List ]
For instance, if we have to select vnespiska’s proxy server, we need to enter the following details:
Similarly, through such values, you can connect to any proxy network from the above-mentioned list.
You can build your own proxy network to bypass internet censorship. Resources here: [ Guide | Official Telegram GitHub Repo ]
Quick Note: Since Telegram has been removed from the Google Playstore and Apple Appstore, if you don’t have it already installed on your device, you can sideload the app. Use VPN while accessing the official download link: [ .apk file ]
What is MTProto Proxy and how does it work? Telegram developed this to circumvent internet censorship. “MTProxy allows users to circumvent internet censorship that restricts Telegram access in certain regions,” states the company.
“When you connect to an MTProxy node, your fully encrypted Telegram traffic is obfuscated and routed through that node before reaching Telegram’s servers. This allows your traffic to privately reach Telegram even if your internet provider is blocking or attempting to monitor publicly known Telegram-operated IP ranges,” explains Telegram (You might need a VPN to access this webpage, since the Indian government’s blocking order is still in place.)
Alternatively, any user can rely on a VPN service provider to access websites or platforms blocked by the Indian government at the ISP level. Because, as Norton defines, a VPN encrypts internet traffic and disguises a user’s online identity, making it harder for outside parties to track activity or intercept data. The web version of Telegram is also accessible on desktop browsers through a VPN. However, VPN users have to be cautious of some fraud VPN service providers.
How is a proxy network different from a VPN? VPNs work at the device level. It means once the user is connected to the network through an ISP, all the network that emerges from that device will be routed through the private network and therefore bypass restrictions of all websites or applications.
What is SOCKS? “A SOCKS proxy is a proxy server that uses the SOCKS protocol to route your data. It’s an additional feature that some VPNs provide. However, unlike a VPN, it does so without encryption,” according to Surfshark. It is not specific to Telegram. It is a widely used standard.
Several service providers like Bright Data, Oxylabs, Webshare and others deliver SOCKS proxy servers. For instance, if you want to use TorGuard’s SOCKS service, you need to have these details:
How does it work? When a user connects through a SOCKS5 proxy, their traffic is routed through a third-party server, and the destination website sees the proxy’s IP address instead of the user’s own IP address, according to NordVPN. However, the important limitation of this feature is the lack of encryption. A standard SOCKS5 proxy does not encrypt traffic, according to NordVPN and Surfshark.
It changes the route a user’s traffic takes and hides the origin IP from the destination, but it does not, on its own, protect the contents travelled through that traffic.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov on how VPNs are used to bypass Russia’s internet censorship: “95% of Russian teenagers still use Telegram every month. How? They use VPNs. They bypass the entire thing. And there’s very little you can do with VPNs. Russia is trying very hard. They have invested billions in trying to fight VPNs. They’re banning hundreds of VPNs every month using IP addresses and traffic patterns. They even installed surveillance hardware into every data sensor of every internet provider in the country. Trying to monitor all the traffic and trying to prevent people from using VPNs. And they failed. Despite all this effort, they failed,” said the Telegram founder at the Oslo Freedom Forum on June 1, 2026.
— Pavel Durov (@durov) June 15, 2026Banning social media for teenagers only puts them in greater danger.
Teens are forced to switch to VPNs — and unlock far worse illegal content.
We’ve seen this before. When the Russian government banned Telegram, 95% of Russian teenagers kept using it. They just moved to VPNs.
Watch his full Oslo Freedom Forum speech here:
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