When the government temporarily restricted Telegram, Times Now Digital tested the block across WiFi and cellular networks and confirmed the app genuinely stopped working, pages would not load and messages would not go through. But the restriction held only until a workaround was found – a VPN. Without any technical skill, and on both Android and iPhone, the app was running again, and the Times Now Digital team sent messages through it. The single biggest enabler, the reporting found, was the easy availability of unregulated VPN apps, hundreds of them on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, offering overseas servers for free or in exchange for watching an ad.
