Telegram does not send a notice when it limits an account for spam. First messages to strangers stop going out, the app shows one line, "Sorry, you can only send messages to mutual contacts at the moment", and that is all. The only place where Telegram describes the state of the account in words is a chat with a bot. This page is about reading what that bot says and answering it properly.
What is @SpamBot?
@SpamBot is Telegram's own spam bot. Its name in the app is Spam Info Bot, it carries the verified check mark, and its profile reads: "The official Spam Info Bot by Telegram. Helps users with limited accounts regain the full functionality."
It does two things. It tells you whether the account is limited for spam and until when. And it takes an appeal and passes it to moderators. Telegram's spam FAQ sends people to it in two cases: when they are sure the limit was applied by mistake, and when a brand new account is limited before it has sent anything.
How do you check an account with @SpamBot?
- Open the bot from the account you want to check. It reports on the account that is writing to it and on nothing else.
- Press Start. If you have talked to it before, send
/startagain to get the current status. - Read the first lines of the reply. They say whether there is a limit and, if there is one, whether it has an end date.
What do @SpamBot's replies mean?
There are four replies you are likely to meet. Telegram rewords them from time to time and the bot answers in other languages too, so read for meaning: is there a limit, and is there a date.
| The reply says | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "Good news, no limits are currently applied to your account. You're free as a bird!" | There is no spam limit on this account right now | If messages still fail, the cause is somewhere else, see below |
| "...your account is now limited until [date]" | A temporary limit: people reported your messages and moderators agreed | Wait for the date. Appeal only if you are sure it is a mistake |
| "Unfortunately, your account is now limited" with no date | A limit with no end date | It will not lift on its own, so the appeal is the only way out |
| "...some phone numbers may trigger a harsh response from our anti-spam systems" | The number caused it, not what you sent | Submit a complaint and tell the story of the number |
The second reply carries the most information, so here it is in full:
I'm afraid some Telegram users found your messages annoying and forwarded them to our team of moderators for inspection. The moderators have confirmed the report and your account is now limited until [date].
Three things follow from it. People pressed "Report spam". A human moderator looked at those messages and agreed with the report. And there is a date, given in UTC. Further down the bot promises that the account "will be automatically released" on that date, and warns that if users report you again, "the limitations will last longer next time".
What do the other messages from the bot mean?
People paste the bot's replies into Google word for word, so here are the ones that come up most, with what they mean.
| The message | Where you see it | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| "Hello! I'm Telegram's official Spam Info Bot. I can help you find out if your account was limited. I'll also explain why this happens and what you can do to regain the full functionality. Send /start to launch me." | The bot's welcome text | Nothing about your account yet. Send /start and read the next reply |
| "I'm very sorry that you had to contact me. Unfortunately, some actions can trigger a harsh response from our anti-spam systems. If you think your account was limited by mistake, you can submit a complaint to our moderators." | The bot, after /start | A limit is on and the bot names no end date. This is the reply to appeal from |
| "While the account is limited, you will not be able to send messages to people who do not have your number in their phone contacts or add them to groups and channels. Of course, when people contact you first, you can always reply to them." | The bot, after /start | The exact scope of the limit: no first messages to strangers, no adding them to groups. Replies still work |
| "Unfortunately, some phone numbers may trigger a harsh response from our anti-spam systems. If you think this is the case with you, you can submit a complaint to our moderators or subscribe to Telegram Premium to get less strict limits." | The bot, on a new or freshly registered number | The number itself is under suspicion. The bot offers two ways out: a complaint, or Telegram Premium, which Telegram says comes with less strict limits |
| "If you think the limitations on your account were applied by mistake, you can submit a complaint. All complaints will be reviewed by the team's supervisor. Please note that this will have no effect on limitations that were applied with a good reason. Would you like to submit a complaint?" | The bot, before the appeal | The appeal starts here. Note the warning: a limit applied for a real reason will not be lifted by a complaint |
| "Great! Please confirm that you have never sent this to strangers: unsolicited advertising of any kind, promotional messages, shocking materials. Did you ever do any of this?" | The bot, first step of the appeal | Answer honestly. Moderators have the reported messages in front of them |
| "By submitting this appeal, you hereby acknowledge and agree that all the information you provided is accurate and truthful. In the event of providing false information or other abuses of the appeals system, Telegram may suspend the review of appeals submitted by you." | The bot, last step of the appeal | An invented story can cost you the right to appeal at all, not only this one appeal |
| "Unfortunately, you cannot create new bots at this time. For more information on why this happened and what your appeal options are, kindly contact @SpamBot." | @BotFather, when you try to create a bot | The spam limit also blocks creating bots. This is not a separate ban: check the account in @SpamBot and appeal there |
Two things from this list are worth knowing. The Premium offer is Telegram's own wording, and it applies to the "phone number" case, not to a limit for reported messages. And the bot-creation message comes from @BotFather, but the cause and the appeal live in @SpamBot.
What can a limited account still do?
The FAQ answers this directly: "Limited accounts can send messages to people who have their number saved as a contact. You can also always reply to anyone who messages you first."
For a sales team this means that conversations already under way keep going, because those people wrote back to you. What stops is the first message to a stranger. The same reply from the bot adds that you cannot add strangers to groups and channels either.
How long does a spam limit last?
Telegram publishes no table of terms. The FAQ says only this: if it happened for the first time, "most likely your account will be limited for a few days or so". After that, "repeated offences will result in longer periods of being blocked", and if you keep writing to strangers who do not want it, "you may lose the ability to do so forever".
The date in the bot's reply is the only one that counts for your account.
Can it be shortened if you admit the mistake? The FAQ has a question worded exactly that way, "I know I was wrong, please release me sooner!", and the answer is: "We're sorry, but this is impossible."
When is an appeal worth sending?
In three cases.
- The limit is a mistake. You did not write to strangers, or the people who reported you had asked you to write. This is the case the FAQ describes: "If you are sure that the limit was wrongfully applied to your account, please contact our @SpamBot."
- The account is new and has sent nothing. The FAQ explains why that happens: "Some numbers may trigger an overly harsh response from our system, either due to their previous owners' activities or due to them being certain virtual/VOIP numbers."
- The reply has no end date. Waiting changes nothing here.
And one case where it is not worth it: you did send cold messages, people reported them and the limit has a date. Moderators have those messages in front of them, because "Report spam" forwards them for review. Wait it out and change the way you send.
How do you appeal through @SpamBot?
- Write to the bot from the limited account and press Start.
- Press the button that disputes the limit. The labels change over time. One known example is "But I can't message non-contacts!".
- Answer the confirmation honestly. The bot asks you to confirm that you will never send strangers unsolicited advertising of any kind, promotional messages or shocking materials, and asks: "Were you going to do anything like that?"
- Write the appeal in one message. The bot says: "Please write me some details about your case, I will forward it to the supervisor. Why do you think your account was limited, what went wrong?"
- Send it once and wait. A second attempt soon after gets the reply "You've already submitted a complaint recently."
What should you write in the appeal?
The bot asks two questions: why you think the account was limited and what went wrong. Answer those two, with facts a moderator can check.
- Who you are and what the account is for.
- Who you write to and where those contacts come from.
- What happened just before the limit appeared.
- For a new number: when you got it and that the account has not sent anything yet.
A short example of the tone:
This account belongs to a sales manager at [company], [site]. We write to people who left a request on the site. On [date] I answered twelve such requests, and after that the limit appeared. I do not send advertising to strangers. Please review the decision.
Write only what is true. If there really was a problem, say so and say what has changed: the list was cleaned, the volume was cut, the wording was rewritten. Moderators read a lot of invented stories.
Why does @SpamBot say "no limits" when messages still fail?
Because a spam limit is only one of the reasons a message does not go out. The others sit on the recipient's side or in the pace of sending.
- The recipient closed their messages. Telegram's API returns
PRIVACY_PREMIUM_REQUIREDfor that: "You need a Telegram Premium subscription to send a message to this user." - The recipient blocked you. The error is
USER_IS_BLOCKED: "You were blocked by this user." - You are sending too fast. A
FLOOD_WAITerror means a pause of the stated number of seconds, it is a speed limit and not a spam limit. Daily numbers are in the guide to Telegram message limits. - The account is frozen. That is a different state with its own notice and deadline, see Telegram account frozen.
If none of this fits, ask the bot again the next day. The broader picture of restrictions is in why Telegram bans accounts.
For outreach teams: why a manual check is not enough
A spam limit is quiet. The account looks alive, the sequence keeps running, and first messages simply do not go out. One person with one account notices within a day. A team with twenty accounts notices when the reply rate drops, and until then the touches go nowhere for days.
The date matters as well. A limit that ends on Thursday and a limit with no date call for different decisions, and only the bot's reply tells them apart.
How this works in Meliora
- Scheduled @SpamBot checks on every account, so a limit is seen the same day.
- Risk Score 0-100 per account, computed from behaviour. Under 30 the account works, 30-60 sends it back to warm-up, above that it stops.
- Touches move to a backup account when one is limited, so a lead in the middle of a sequence still gets the next message.
- Shared inbox and CRM: replies from people who already wrote to you stay with the team and get answered.
Frequently asked questions
Is @SpamBot an official Telegram bot?
Yes. Its profile says "The official Spam Info Bot by Telegram", it has the verified check mark, and Telegram's own spam FAQ links to it. Open it from t.me/spambot and do not trust bots with similar names.
How long does a Telegram spam limit last?
Telegram's FAQ says that a first limit will most likely last "a few days or so" and that repeated ones last longer. The exact end date for your account is in the @SpamBot reply, in UTC.
Can I get the limit removed early?
Not by admitting the mistake: the FAQ answers that request with "this is impossible". An appeal makes sense only when the limit was applied wrongly, when the account is new and has sent nothing, or when the reply has no end date.
Does @SpamBot work on a frozen account?
Yes. A frozen account is in read-only mode, but it can still write to @SpamBot, and the freeze notice in the app names the bot as the place to appeal. A freeze has a deadline, so do not put it off: without an accepted appeal the account is deleted.
What does "you can only send messages to mutual contacts" mean?
It is the line the app shows when a spam-limited account tries to write to a stranger. Open @SpamBot from that account: the reply will say whether the limit has an end date.