Hey everyone,
I’m working on a Telegram bot and I want to make sure it can only be used in certain groups and channels that I approve. The problem is, I can’t find a way to stop people from adding the bot to any group they want.
I know I can filter messages in my webhook, but I’m worried someone could add the bot to tons of big groups. This might overload my server and mess things up for everyone else using the bot.
Does anyone know if there’s a way to set up a whitelist for groups and channels? Or maybe some other method to control where the bot can be added?
I’ve looked through the Telegram Bot API docs but couldn’t find anything about this. Any help would be awesome!
Thanks!
As someone who’s developed a few Telegram bots, I can tell you there’s no built-in way to restrict which groups a bot can be added to. However, you can implement a workaround. Have your bot immediately leave any group it’s added to unless that group’s ID is on your approved list. This way, even if someone adds it to an unauthorized group, it won’t stick around.
You can do this by handling the ‘new_chat_members’ update in your webhook. Check if the bot is among the new members, and if so, verify the chat ID against your whitelist. If it’s not approved, use the ‘leaveChat’ method to remove the bot from that group.
This approach isn’t perfect, but it’s the most effective solution I’ve found for controlling bot access without relying on Telegram to implement group restrictions.
I’ve faced this issue too, and here’s what worked for me: implement a database system to store approved group IDs. When the bot joins a new group, it checks this database. If the group ID isn’t listed, the bot automatically leaves.
This approach has several benefits. It gives you full control over where your bot operates, reduces unnecessary server load, and prevents potential misuse. You can easily update the approved list without changing your code.
One thing to keep in mind: set up error handling for cases where the bot can’t leave a group due to permissions. Also, consider implementing a cooldown mechanism if you’re worried about rate limits from frequent join/leave actions.
While not a perfect solution, it’s been reliable in my experience and keeps things manageable.
hey, i’ve been there. make ur bot leave groups that ain’t on whitelist. it simply checks each new chat id and if its not there, it bounces. not perfect, but works. watch out for ratelimits if many add attempts happen.