Spamban

Telegram can issue various restrictions to users if they violate the platform’s rules, or if other users complain about them. An example of this would be Spamban, which is one of these restrictions.

Table of content:

  1. What is spamban?
  2. What is prohibited for the spambanned user?
  3. Why did I get a spam ban?
  4. How to get rid of spamban?
  5. I did everything, but the spamban was not removed
  6. Does a Premium subscription protect against spamban?
  7. What if I want to spamban someone?
  8. What else do you need to know?

1. What is spamban?

Spamban is a type of restriction that Telegram can impose on a user’s account.

Here are two key facts about spamban:

  1. Spamban can only be issued to user accounts. If a group or a channel gets banned, it is a different type of restriction.
  2. Only Telegram can issue a spamban. If you are blocked in a specific group, or you are added to a personal blacklist by a specific user, then it is not a spamban.

2. What is prohibited for the spambanned user?

If Telegram has spambanned you, you may no longer be able to perform certain actions.

2.1. Always

You are unable to send private messages to non-mutual contacts, for instance users who have not added you to their contact list or whom you have not added to your list will disappear.

You also can not add such users to groups or channels.

When attempting to send a private message to a non-mutual contact, Telegram will display the error message “Sorry, you can only send messages to mutual contacts at the moment”. However, in some instances, the sent message appears in the private chat, but instead of a check mark in the lower right corner, an exclamation mark on a red background is displayed. This could also indicate that your account has been spambanned, but keep in mind this can also happen for other reasons.

2.2. Sometimes

In addition to the ability to send messages to non-mutual contacts, you may also lose the ability to do one or more of the following:

  1. Send messages to public groups.
  2. Create groups and channels.
  3. Manage admins in your groups and channels: add new admins, remove old ones, and change their permissions.

3. Why did I get a spam ban?

3.1. You won’t be told the exact reason

Telegram never tells the user the specific reason why it gave them the restrictions. According to the editors of @tginfo, there are two reasons for this:

  1. A spam ban can be issued not only for one specific action, but for several at once; for example, as a result of processing complaints from several users.
  2. If Telegram tells the user whose complaint led to their spam ban, then the user may seek revenge or potentially harass the person who complained about them.

Many users find it unfair that they cannot find out the reasons for receiving spam. After all: “But, in court, they will always tell me what I am accused of! What if this is an unfair accusation? What if I have something to say in response?” Well, Telegram is not a court.

3.2. But sometimes you can guess about it

*Usually (*except the cases like the antispam filter, see section 4.3) Telegram issues a spamban when someone complains about your behavior on Telegram.

Telegram users can complain about the following actions:

  1. Starting private chat with a user who has not previously added you to their contact list. Any such user can complain about your message, and then it will no longer matter at all what you wrote to them: see section “2. Personal chat” of the article “How to Report Content in Telegram?”.
  2. Adding a user who has not added you to their contact list to a group or channel without consent.
  3. Sending any message to a supergroup. (that could be potentially annoying or offensive)
  4. Sending any reaction to any message in a supergroup. (for instance, a 💩 reaction may annoy a user, causing them to report you)

3.3. Where do spambans come from on new accounts?

Some users find that they have received a spamban immediately after creating a new account. This does indeed happen in some cases:

  1. If an account was previously registered to a specific phone number and it received a spamban, and then this account was deleted and a new account was created for the same phone number, the platform will transfer the spamban to the new account.
  2. Telegram treats new accounts with more suspicion than old ones. Sometimes a new account only needs to receive one complaint about a message in a group for Telegram to issue it a spamban, whilst old accounts can withstand a greater number of complaints.

4. How to remove spamban?

There is an official bot on the Telegram platform that helps users with spamban issues: Spam Info Bot.

  1. If Telegram displays the message “Sorry, you can only send messages to mutual contacts at the moment”, just click the “More info” button under it.
  2. You can also start a conversation with the bot by finding it using Telegram Search by the name “Spam Info Bot” or by following the link: @Spambot.

Although the bot is helpful, it may not be in all cases due to these reasons:

  1. The information in the bot is sometimes not updated immediately, that is, it may be out of date. Sometimes the user has already been spambanned, but the bot does not know about it yet, and vice versa: the user has already had the restrictions lifted, but the bot continues to claim that they are there. The delay in updating the bot’s data can be up to 24 hours.
  2. Telegram often removes restrictions from an account gradually, rather than all at once. The bot may say that there are no restrictions anymore, but they are still in effect. In this case, the delay can also be up to 24 hours.

To open a chat with the bot, click the “Start” button and carefully follow the given instructions. Based on the bot’s answers, you can understand what type of spamban you have been given and decide what to do to get rid of the restrictions.

4.1. «Your account is free from any restrictions»

The bot will say this in the following three scenarios:

  1. You genuinely don’t have a spamban.
  2. There is a spamban, but the bot doesn’t know about it yet.
  3. The bot thinks that the spamban has already been removed, but in fact it is still active.

If you are sure that there is a spamban, wait a few hours (up to 24) and send the bot the /start command again.

4.2. The bot provides you the Spamban expiration date

If the bot reports the end date of the spamban, you need to keep the following in mind:

  1. The bot reports the Spamban expiration time in UTC format. In your timezone, the spamban will be removed at a different time, corresponding to your timezone. Do not forget to calculate the correct end time of the spamban for your location: if the bot says that the ban will be removed at 09:00, and you are in Dubai, then the ban will be removed when it is 13:00 on your clock, and so on.
  2. Telegram may not always remove the Spamban at the bots provided time; there may be a 24hr latency after the provided time for the restrictions to be completely removed.
  3. It is almost impossible to attempt to remove a spamban before Telegram removed it themselves, but you can still try and use Spam Info Bot to aid in the removal of the Spamban.
  4. If other users continue to complain about your messages, then the spamban could be automatically extended.

4.3. Spam Info Bot mentions about Aggressive Anti-Spam instead of an expiration date

If the bot provides Aggressive Anti-Spam as the reason for the restrictions, it means that you have been spammed by Telegram’s own automated Aggressive Anti-Spam sysyem. Here are the main features of this type of spamban:

  1. This spamban is not removed automatically after some time: Telegram removes it only as a result of your actions or the actions of the administrators of the group in which the automated system was triggered.
  2. Sometimes, with such a spamban, the user will only partially lose the ability to send messages to public groups: they may lose the ability to write specifically to those groups in which the anti-spam filter is enabled.

If you have received this type of spamban, try the following:

  1. Read section #4 of the article «Aggressive Anti-Spam» and follow the recommendations described there.
  2. Use Spam Info Bots buttons.

4.4. No expiration date or any mention of Aggressive Anti-Spam

The bot can report a spam ban without an expiration date, and also not mention Aggressive Anti-Spam. Such a spam ban is also not removed automatically, but it is issued not by the Aggressive Anti-Spam, but by the usual Telegram moderation system, based on the results of manually reviewed complaints from other users about your actions, instead of an automated system.

To get rid of such spam ban, you can do the following:

  1. Use the buttons that the bot offers.
  2. Write a detailed letter to [email protected] and describe in as much detail as possible why you believe that you did not violate Telegram’s rules.

5. I tried everything, but the spamban was not removed

If you used the bot buttons to prove your innocence and sent a letter to [email protected], and the spamban was not removed, you can only accept the restrictions. There are no other options.

6. Does a Premium subscription protect against spamban?

Not always:

  1. Telegram Premium subscribers have a lower chance of getting spam banned, and in case of temporary spamban, they receive restrictions for shorter periods of time than other users. But how much shorter these chances and periods are — no one knows.
  2. Sometimes Premium subscribers receive a message from a spambot that their spamban will be removed in one minute. And indeed, just one minute after contacting the bot, they again have the opportunity to send messages to non-mutual contacts and to public groups. But keep in mind, this does not always happen.

7. What if I want to spamban someone?

You can complain about other users and their actions: see the article «How to Report Content in Telegram?«.

Remember: sending a complaint does not guarantee that the user will be punished, and even more so that he will be punished immediately. But it increases the likelihood that this will happen.

8. What else do you need to know?

  1. If your account has been spammed, it is completely useless to delete it and create a new account on the same number: the platform will transfer the spamban to the new account.
  2. It is useless to change the phone number of the account with the spamban: it will not disappear.
  3. If you cannot send messages to a group because of the spamban, but you know the administrator of this chat, you can ask them to give you minimal administrator rights for the duration of the restriction: this will allow you to write to the group even with the spamban.
  4. The official Telegram website has some information about how spambans work:e information about how spambans work: