IIT Madras Director Demonstrates How Telegram Feature Can Be Misused, X Users Say ‘Misleading The Masses’ | Education and Career News
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Re-NEET UG: Prof Kamakoti cited instances in exams like JEE and IISER Aptitude Test where similar attempts were made to spread panic using misleading claims of paper leaks.
Director V. Kamakoti said Telegram allows users to edit messages even after they are sent, without changing the original timestamp. (Image: X/iitmadras)
IIT Madras on Tuesday backed the temporary restriction on Telegram ahead of the re-NEET exam, pointing to a technical feature that can be misused to create fake paper leak claims.
Director V. Kamakoti said Telegram allows users to edit messages even after they are sent, without changing the original timestamp. This means a message sent at one time can be altered later, but still appear as if it was posted earlier.
He explained that this feature can be exploited to falsely show that question papers were shared before an exam. “If a message is sent at 3 pm today and edited later, it will still appear as if it was sent at 3 pm,” he said.
ALSO READ | NEET UG: ‘Fake Papers Flooded Telegram, Students Fooled’, NTA Chief Justifies Ban
To demonstrate, he showed how a file shared in a message can be replaced later without any visible change in the timestamp, making it look like the updated file was always there.
Kamakoti said such tactics have been used earlier as well to create confusion among students. He cited instances in exams like JEE Advanced and the IISER Aptitude Test where similar attempts were made to spread panic using misleading claims of paper leaks.
“There’s been an attempt in the past to create confusion and panic among candidates who appeared for multiple competitive examinations. At least two instances, to the best of my knowledge — one in the case of JEE Advanced and another in the case of IISER Aptitude Test,” he said.
According to him, this is exactly how fake “paper leak” videos and screenshots are created and circulated on social media.
Students, X Users Say Misleading
But students and X users were not here for it.
Sarthak Sidhant, the 18-year-old Ranchi-based student who made headlines for highlighting alleged irregularities in the CBSE On-Screen Marking (OSM) process, said, “If Prof Kamakoti is so inclined to use a technical workaround, there are technical workarounds to find the edit time too. He should also note that this is a design decision by the telegram team.”
While another user said, ‘Why are you misleading the masses who are not technical,” and another said, “Are you joking???? You are the NTA. Is this the way you handle exam leaks ???”
https://t.co/7hpoctWj7D pls check this rebuttal by Siddhant.Looks right to me.
why are you misleading the masses who are not technical.
— Sunil Choudhary 陈蓝 Chénlán (ex Oracle, Capgemini) (@SunilChoudhary) June 16, 2026
Are you joking???? You are the NTA. Is this the way you handle exam leaks ???Do you know what’s Blockchain systems ? Do you know what is cbt ?If the PM is uneducated, doesn’t mean you guys also have to be. Use your head for heaven’s sake.— Socho (@svn4aap) June 16, 2026
The temporary ban on Telegram comes right before NEET UG re-exam 2026, which is slated to be held in June 21.
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