The Indian government has ordered SIM binding directives to WhatsApp, Telegram, Snapchat and more
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) notified the Telecommunication Cybersecurity Amendment Rules, 2025 and introduced new category called the Telecommunication Identifier User Entity (TIUE), which would fulfill a range of cybersecurity obligations, including using a Mobile Number Validation (MNV) Platform to verify the customers or users associated with a telecommunication identifier for services linked to such an identifier.
The new directions, which have been sent to WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Arattai, Snapchat, ShareChat, JioChat, and Josh, effectively recognise these companies as TIUEs. They require platforms to ensure that SIM cards remain continuously linked to their services within the next 90 days. For website or web-app-based access, TIUEs must ensure users are logged out periodically (not later than 6 hours) and must offer an option to relink accounts through a QR-code-based method.
This means that, you cannot use the same telegram account on more than 1 smartphone and will be logged out automatically everyday under 6 hours on the web app. This directive is set to be enforced from February 2026.
The government has observed that some apps using mobile numbers for customer validation allow access even when the underlying #SIM is not present in the device. The government argues that this creates vulnerabilities exploited from outside #India to commit cyber fraud.
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The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) notified the Telecommunication Cybersecurity Amendment Rules, 2025 and introduced new category called the Telecommunication Identifier User Entity (TIUE), which would fulfill a range of cybersecurity obligations, including using a Mobile Number Validation (MNV) Platform to verify the customers or users associated with a telecommunication identifier for services linked to such an identifier.
The new directions, which have been sent to WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Arattai, Snapchat, ShareChat, JioChat, and Josh, effectively recognise these companies as TIUEs. They require platforms to ensure that SIM cards remain continuously linked to their services within the next 90 days. For website or web-app-based access, TIUEs must ensure users are logged out periodically (not later than 6 hours) and must offer an option to relink accounts through a QR-code-based method.
This means that, you cannot use the same telegram account on more than 1 smartphone and will be logged out automatically everyday under 6 hours on the web app. This directive is set to be enforced from February 2026.
The government has observed that some apps using mobile numbers for customer validation allow access even when the underlying #SIM is not present in the device. The government argues that this creates vulnerabilities exploited from outside #India to commit cyber fraud.
Follow @TechLeaksZone