Reliance Jio denies Telegram founder Pavel Durov's BGP hijacking allegations

Reliance Jio Infocomm on Wednesday issued a clarification dismissing speculation surrounding an alleged Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) route misconfiguration, saying the company had not been involved in any such incident.

In a statement, the telecom operator said recent posts on the social media platform X had triggered speculation regarding Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (AS55836) and a purported BGP routing issue.

“Recent posts on X have led to speculation regarding Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (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 company said.

The clarification came a day after Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov accused Reliance of allegedly disrupting access to the messaging platform for users outside India and questioned whether the telecom operator and WhatsApp — Telegram’s principal rival — were linked to the recent push to suspend the app in the country.

Durov alleged that the disruption was part of a “competitive war” and claimed that Reliance was “partly owned” by Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp.

According to Durov, access to Telegram was being affected through a “rogue method” known as BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) hijacking, a technique in which internet traffic is redirected by falsely advertising routes to websites or online services. He claimed the issue was impacting users outside India, including those in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where India’s blocking orders do not apply.

“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,” Durov said in a post on X.

“This may be part of a competitive war, as Reliance is partially owned by Meta — the company behind WhatsApp… Such abuse of global Internet routing is alarming. I wouldn’t be surprised if Reliance/WhatsApp were also behind the recent lobbying effort to ban Telegram in India,” he added.

What is BGP?

BGP is the internet's routing system that enables networks to direct traffic to websites and online services. In a BGP hijack, a network falsely claims to be the preferred route, potentially diverting or disrupting internet traffic.

According to industry sources, the network identified by Durov does not belong to Reliance Jio and may instead be associated with Reliance Communications, based on publicly available internet routing databases. Reliance Jio, in its statement on Wednesday, specifically denied any involvement in a BGP route misconfiguration and said it continues to operate its network in accordance with global internet routing best practices.

Why was Telegram banned?

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on Tuesday ordered a temporary block on Telegram in India until June 22 following a recommendation from the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the NEET examination. The move came after allegations that Telegram channels were being used to circulate claims of leaked question papers for the May 3 exam and the June 21 re-examination. According to the NTA, several channels demanded money from students and parents in exchange for purported access to papers. The government has also directed Telegram to disable its message-editing feature until June 30 over concerns it could facilitate misinformation.