Telegram group rules, with examples, and the setting that enforces each one

By Mara Vogel Published 27 October 2026 22 min read

Writing telegram group rules takes ten minutes. Making them hold takes the other ninety percent of the work, and that is where most guides stop. A rule with no control behind it is a request, and spam accounts do not read requests. This guide gives a telegram group rules example for a group, a shorter set for a channel, and then a ledger that maps every line to the Telegram setting or Bot API method that enforces it.

Every Telegram figure below was read on Telegram's own pages on 27 October 2026 and is named where it appears, under the sourcing standard behind every Sendhaus guide. Where Telegram publishes nothing, the guide says so instead of borrowing a vendor's number.

Telegram rules vs your group's rules: two rulebooks

Every Telegram group runs under two rulebooks. The first is Telegram's: the Terms of Service and moderation policy that apply to every account and every chat. The second is the house rules the group's admins write and enforce themselves. Breaking a house rule gets a member muted or removed by an admin. Breaking Telegram's rules can get the whole group blocked by Telegram.

The Telegram rules that matter for a group are short. The Terms of Service open with "By signing up for Telegram, you accept our Privacy Policy and agree not to" and then list the prohibitions, starting with "Use our service to send spam or scam users." Two of the lines carry a qualifier that admins often miss: promoting violence and posting illegal pornographic content are banned "on publicly viewable Telegram channels, bots, etc." A public group is publicly viewable, so those lines apply to it in full.

People searching for telegram guidelines or telegram community guidelines usually expect a single policy page like other networks publish. Telegram has no document under either name. The equivalent is spread across three pages: the Terms of Service, the moderation page at telegram.org/moderation, and the spam FAQ. The spam FAQ sets the tone for groups: "Moderators are more lenient when it comes to messages in groups", and "group admins can also report users who post spam in their groups".

28,690,810 groups and channels blocked in 2026, as counted on Telegram's moderation page on 27 October 2026. The page does not split that total by reason, so it says nothing about how many were blocked for spam alone.telegram.org/moderation

Telegram group rules example: a copy-ready template

A workable telegram group rules example has eight to ten numbered lines, each naming one behaviour and, where it matters, the consequence. Lines must be short enough to read on a phone without scrolling. The template below is written so that every line maps to a setting in the enforcement ledger further down; a line with no setting behind it is marked as moderator judgement.

Replace the bracketed parts of these telegram group rules and delete the lines that do not fit the group:

1. Stay on topic: [topic]. Off-topic posts go to the [Off-topic] thread or get deleted.
2. [English] only in the main chat, so moderators can read everything.
3. No advertising. No promo posts, referral links, channel links or "DM me for details" offers without admin approval.
4. No unsolicited DMs to members. Contacting people privately because you saw them here is not allowed. Report anyone who does it.
5. No flooding. One message instead of five, no repeated posts, no sticker chains.
6. No scams, illegal goods or adult content. These break Telegram's Terms of Service as well as these rules.
7. Be civil. No personal attacks, hate speech, or posting other people's private information.
8. New members: text only for the first [3 days]; links and media after that.
9. Admins never DM first. No admin will message you first, ask for money, a login code or a wallet phrase. Anyone who does is an impostor.
10. Enforcement: warning, then mute, then ban. Questions about a decision go to [@admin_username], not the main chat.

Line 9 is the one most sets of telegram group rules leave out, and it prevents the most damage. Impostors copy an admin's name and photo, then message members who asked a question in the group. Telegram's spam FAQ describes the private-message side plainly: "it really doesn't matter what you send, as long as the receivers find it unwelcome." The newcomer greeting that points people at these lines is a separate piece of text, covered in examples of a Telegram welcome message.

Rules for Telegram group types: what to add

Rules for telegram group types differ mostly in two or three added lines. The base template stays the same:

Telegram channel rules: a shorter set for channels and comments

Telegram channel rules govern fewer behaviours than telegram group rules, because only admins post in a channel. Subscribers act in two places: comments, which live in the linked discussion group, and reactions. Five lines usually cover it. The text belongs in a pinned post, with one line in the channel description pointing to it, since the description is the first thing a visitor reads.

1. Comments stay on the post's topic. Off-topic comments are deleted.
2. No advertising or links in comments without admin approval.
3. No impersonating the channel. The channel never replies to comments from a personal account asking you to DM it.
4. Reposts: forwarding posts with the channel name is fine; copying them as your own is not.
5. Repeat breaches remove your ability to comment.

The enforcement for those five lines happens in the discussion group, not the channel. Telegram's API documentation describes a post's comment section as "simply the message thread of the automatically forwarded channel message in the linked discussion supergroup", so the group's permissions, slow mode and admins police the comments. How that linked group is attached to the channel, and how comments are switched on or off per post, is set out in enabling channel comments with a discussion group. Channels exist to broadcast, and how a channel post compares with the other routes is laid out in four ways to broadcast on Telegram.

A no-advertising line binds subscribers, not Telegram. Sponsored messages bought through Telegram's own ad platform can appear in large public channels, and the channel's rules have no say over them; how the Telegram ad platform places ads explains the mechanics. The same channel buying ads to grow should budget from what Telegram Ads actually cost and decide whether a Telegram Ads agency earns its fee.

Which Telegram control enforces which rule?

Each line of the telegram group rules template maps to one native control or one bot feature. Content rules map to member permissions, flood rules to slow mode, entry rules to join requests, spam to Aggressive Anti-Spam, and conduct rules to admins holding delete and restrict rights. Lines with no control behind them, such as "be civil", depend on a person reading the chat. The ledger shows which is which.

Three rows deserve a note. Slow mode cannot be switched on by a bot through the Bot API; bots can read the delay but an admin sets it in the app. Deletion has a clock: the Bot API says a bot can delete a message only "if it was sent less than 48 hours ago", so a cleanup bot added late cannot clear older spam. And no setting enforces line 4, because Telegram does not let a group or its bots see members' private chats. That line works only through reports, which is why the template asks members to report.

"Telegram groups can have up to 200,000 members each." At that size no team reads every message, so the manual column of the ledger decides how many moderators it takes to hold telegram group rules in place.Telegram FAQ

Admin rights: what a Telegram moderator can be given

A Telegram moderator is a group admin with a chosen subset of rights. Telegram has no separate moderator role: the owner, or an admin allowed to add admins, promotes a member and switches individual rights on. The Bot API lists those rights as ChatAdministratorRights. For most telegram moderators the working set is delete messages plus ban users, without the right to add new admins.

The same rights decide what a moderation bot can do. A bot promoted without can_restrict_members cannot mute anyone, whatever its commands promise. Telegram's Bots FAQ also sets what a bot sees: bot admins and bots with privacy mode disabled "will receive all messages except messages sent by other bots". A moderation bot is blind to spam posted by another bot, so a second line of defence, an admin or Telegram's own anti-spam, still matters.

How to restrict members in Telegram group chats

Restrictions work on two levels. Default permissions, under the group's Permissions settings, apply to every member who is not an admin. A per-member restriction overrides the defaults for one person, for a set time or indefinitely. That is how to restrict members in Telegram group chats without touching anyone else: mute one account, limit a newcomer to text, or lock media for everyone during a raid.

The Bot API's ChatPermissions object lists what can be switched off: sending text, audio, documents, photos, videos, video notes and voice notes; polls; "animations, games, stickers and use inline bots"; link previews; reactions; changing chat info; inviting users; pinning; and creating topics. Two of them, changing info and pinning, are "Ignored in public supergroups", so a public group cannot hand those to ordinary members at all.

One exception cuts across every default. The Bot API's unrestrict_boost_count field sets "the minimum number of boosts that a non-administrator user needs to add in order to ignore slow mode and chat permissions". A group that enables it lets members who boost bypass the media and flooding rules, so the written rules should say so if it is on.

"If user is restricted for more than 366 days or less than 30 seconds from the current time, they are considered to be restricted forever."Telegram Bot API, restrictChatMember

That sentence explains a common moderation accident. A bot or script that sets a 10-second test mute, or a 400-day "long" mute, has in fact muted the person permanently. A seven-day probation for new members, as in line 8 of the template, sits safely inside the window. The same 366-day and 30-second rule applies to bans set through banChatMember.

1. Set the defaults for everyone

   Open the group settings, then Permissions, and switch off the content types the telegram group rules ban for all members, such as link previews or stickers. A bot does the same with setChatPermissions, which needs can_restrict_members.

2. Turn on slow mode for busy chats

   Slow mode sits in the same Permissions screen. Telegram's announcement describes it this way: members "will only be able to send one message per the interval they choose", and a timer shows the wait. Admins are not limited.

3. Restrict one member

   Open the member from the member list or from one of their messages, choose to restrict them, switch off what they may send, and pick a duration. The bot equivalent is restrictChatMember; passing every permission as true lifts the restriction.

4. Check the log

   Recent Actions keeps service actions from the last 48 hours, according to Telegram's groups tour, which is the window for reviewing who restricted whom.

Telegram's API method for slow mode says only that users "will only be able to send one message every seconds seconds"; the documentation reviewed does not list the intervals the apps offer. Any interval table found online comes from screenshots, not from Telegram's documentation.

Request admin approval: screening people before they join

Request Admin Approval is a setting on an additional invite link. A person who opens that link sends a join request instead of joining, and admins approve or dismiss it from a bar at the top of the chat. Telegram's announcement says admins "can view an applicant's public profile pictures and bio" first. It is the strongest native entry control a group has, and the point where telegram admin approval and captcha bots meet.

The request admin approval Telegram setting applies per link, so one group can keep an open link for a partner site and an approval-only link for public posting. Join requests also suit private groups where membership is the product, such as a client community or a paid cohort. They suit poorly a group that needs quick growth, because every request waits for a person.

Bots can work the queue. The Bot API's chat_join_request update reaches a bot only if "the bot must have the can_invite_users administrator right", and the bot answers with approveChatJoinRequest or declineChatJoinRequest. Two timing rules in the documentation shape every screening bot:

The five-minute window is the only time a bot may message someone who never started it, and only about that request. It is not a channel for marketing. Bots sold as tools to invite members to a group in bulk work the opposite way, pushing people in without any request, and Telegram's spam FAQ counts "adding people to unwanted groups and channels" as spam; what a member-adding bot really is covers the account risk.

What does a Telegram captcha bot actually do?

A Telegram captcha bot is an admin bot that mutes each newcomer, posts a challenge, and lifts the mute once the challenge is solved. On the Bot API that is one restrictChatMember call with sending switched off, then a second call restoring permissions. With join requests on, the bot can test the person in a private chat before approving. Telegram itself ships no captcha.

Telegram's June 2026 update pointed admins in the same direction: "Add AI guardians to screen people before they join your groups." Those guardians are bots too, working through the same join-request methods. For larger groups, Telegram's own Aggressive Anti-Spam is the native layer (its December 2022 announcement says "groups with over 200 members"); its API page says the official anti-spam bot "does not have to be added as participant or admin", and admins report false positives from the admin log.

Rose (@MissRose_bot) is the captcha bot Telegram admins mention most often in searches, and the Rose captcha Telegram documentation describes the flow exactly. Its documentation warns to add only the bot with that username because lookalikes exist. Here is how to add captcha to Telegram group chats with Rose:

1. Add Rose and promote it

   Add @MissRose_bot to the group and make it an admin with delete messages, ban users and invite users rights. Without restrict rights the captcha cannot mute anyone.

2. Turn welcome messages on

   Rose's documentation is blunt: "To use CAPTCHAs, you MUST have welcome messages enabled!" The challenge button is attached to the welcome message.

3. Enable the captcha

   Send /captcha on in the group. /captcha off disables it.

4. Pick a mode

   /captchamode switches between button (the default), text, math and text2, which Rose calls "the most advanced and safest setting available".

5. Test with a second account

   Rose asks each person once per group. An account that solved it before skips it; an admin /kick resets that account's status, leaving the group does not.

According to Rose's documentation, a person who solves the telegram captcha is unmuted; for one who never solves it, the documentation says they "remain muted (or get kicked, depending on settings)"; one who gives a wrong answer is temporarily banned. When the group uses join requests, Rose sends the challenge to the applicant's private chat instead.

Telegram admin commands: bot commands vs the native menu

Telegram has no slash commands of its own for moderation. Native moderation works through menus: long-press a message, open a member, or edit the group's settings. The slash commands people call telegram admin commands, such as /ban, /mute, /warn and /setrules, belong to moderation bots such as Rose, and each works only if the bot holds the matching admin right.

How to set rules in Telegram group chats

There are two ways for how to set rules in Telegram group chats, and most groups use both. The native way is to post the telegram group rules as a message and pin it: Telegram's FAQ says all members get a notification for a pin "even if they muted ordinary messages from your group". The bot way gives members a command to recall the rules at any time without scrolling to the pin.

A telegram group rules bot keeps one stored copy. With Rose, an admin sends /setrules followed by the text, members type /rules, and the reply goes to their private chat by default to keep the group clean (/privaterules off posts it in the group instead). A {rules} placeholder adds a rules button to the welcome message, and /resetrules clears the text. Any telegram rules bot is only as current as its stored text, so edit the pinned post and the bot copy together.

Rules-on-request is one kind of keyword reply. Bots that answer "rules?" or "price?" automatically follow the same privacy-mode and admin-right limits as any other group bot, set out in the Telegram auto-reply options and their limits.

How to become a Telegram moderator

There is no application, exam or sign-up for how to become a Telegram moderator. A group's owner, or an admin with the right to add admins, promotes you inside that one group, with whatever rights they choose. Being a moderator in Telegram is a role in a specific chat, not a platform-wide title, so the route always runs through a group whose owner trusts you.

The practical path is short. Be active and useful in the group, follow its rules, report spam instead of arguing with it, and offer to help when the group grows past what its admins can read. Owners promote people they have watched. Searches for moderator telegram work mostly turn up freelance listings for crypto and Web3 communities, where the job is the ledger above: delete spam, mute flooders, answer newcomers, ban scam accounts.

Once appointed, a telegram moderator should ask which rights come with the role and which of the telegram group rules each one is meant to enforce. A moderator holding ban rights with no written escalation rule (line 10 of the template) makes inconsistent calls, and inconsistent calls are what members complain about in the main chat.

What group rules cannot enforce, and what Telegram does not publish

Telegram group rules stop at the edge of the group. They cannot reach private messages between members, bots cannot see other bots' messages, and Telegram publishes no threshold for when reports against a group lead to action, no review time for reports, and no interval list for slow mode in its API documentation. Plan moderation around those gaps instead of assuming a setting covers them.

The private-message gap is where most member harm happens: impostors and sellers contact people they found in the group. The same consent problem makes cold DMs a ban risk on Telegram, and Telegram's affiliate terms forbid promoting programmes in private chats with random users, as DM marketing and the affiliate rules explains clause by clause. A group's member list is not a mailing list either. Reaching members in bulk belongs in a channel post or a bot they started, which is what sending bulk messages on Telegram the compliant way and a mass messaging service built on opt-in describe. How each kind of message reaches a DM, a group or a channel is set out in how to send a message on Telegram.

Telegram group rules can be measured, though. Group statistics come with the can_restrict_members right, and a month with fewer deletions and steady member growth after a rules change is the only evidence that counts; what Telegram analytics show and where they stop covers the numbers available. For the wider setup around a group, from channel pairing to topics, see building a Telegram community.

Sendhaus builds moderation and join-screening bots on the Bot API, within the rights and timing rules above, through bot development and automation. What we take on and what we decline is on how Sendhaus works. Sendhaus is independent and not affiliated with Telegram.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Telegram Terms of Service — spam and scam ban, "publicly viewable" qualifier.
• Telegram moderation page — groups and channels blocked in 2026.
• Telegram spam FAQ — leniency in groups, admin reports, adding people to unwanted groups.
• Telegram FAQ — 200,000-member groups, admin privileges, default permissions, pinned-message notifications, Aggressive Anti-Spam.
• Telegram Bot API — ChatPermissions, ChatAdministratorRights, restrictChatMember, join-request methods and timing.
• Telegram Bots FAQ — admin bots receive all messages except other bots' messages.
• Telegram API, native antispam system — the anti-spam bot needs no membership; false-positive reports.
• Telegram API, discussion groups — comments as the thread of the forwarded post.
• Telegram API, channels.toggleSlowMode — one message every set number of seconds.
• Telegram blog, slow mode — one message per the chosen interval.
• Telegram blog, join requests — Request Admin Approval, profile pictures and bio.
• Telegram blog, Aggressive Anti-Spam (2022) — groups with over 200 members.
• Telegram blog, June 2026 update — AI guardians that screen people before they join.
• Telegram tour, groups — Recent Actions, 48 hours.
• Rose documentation, CAPTCHA — modes, welcome-message requirement, outcomes, join requests.
• Rose documentation, Rules — /setrules, /rules, /privaterules, {rules} button.
• Rose documentation, banning, muting and kicking — /ban, /tban, /mute, /tmute, /kick.