The messaging platform said it would address any harmful content if reported to it, in accordance with Indian regulations.

Telegram’s lawyer also argued that if the platform tried to monitor all discussions on its own, it would go against Indian privacy laws.

However, Telegram said it was willing to work with Star Health to remove data from specific reported accounts.

Telegram told the Madras High Court that it would not be able to monitor all accounts on its platform to stop the sharing of customer data leaked by Star Health, Reuters reported.

Instead, the messaging platform said it would address any harmful content if reported to it, in accordance with Indian regulations.

Telegram’s lawyer also argued that if the platform tried to monitor all discussions on its own, it would go against Indian privacy laws.

However, Telegram said it was willing to work with Star Health to remove data from specific reported accounts.

Notably, personal data of millions of Star Health customers leaked on Telegram in September this year.

Star Health customer data, such as policy and claims documents, including names, contact details, addresses, tax details, ID card copies, test results and medical diagnoses, would have been available for download on the Telegram application.

A few days after the leak, the hacker claimed that the insurer’s chief information security officer (CISO) had sold him the data.

In an article on X, the hacker, under the pseudonym “xenZen”, claimed that CISO Amarjeet Khanuja later even tried to renegotiate the deal. and demanded more money for continued access to data on the company’s servers.

Meanwhile, Telegram said in a statement at the time that bots reported to Telegram for sharing Star Health data were immediately removed and moderators were monitoring to prevent them from being recreated.

The company further added that sharing private information on Telegram is expressly prohibited and such content is removed whenever found.