Set up Chat restrictions

As an admin of Google Chat, you can set up restrictions to prevent user groups from starting new direct messages, group messages, or spaces. These groups will also be restricted from managing members for existing conversations they are already in.

Set up Chat restrictions

1. Sign in with an administrator account to the Google Admin console.

   If you aren’t using an administrator account, you can’t access the Admin console.

2. Go to Menu and then Apps > Google Workspace > Google Chat.

   Requires having the Service Settings administrator privilege.

3. Scroll to Chat and Space restrictions.
4. In the Google Chat box on the left, search for the group you want to apply Chat restrictions to and click it.
5. Check the Restrict creating direct messages, group messages, and spaces box.
6. Click Save.

Changes can take up to 24 hours but typically happen more quickly. Learn more

Set up automatic acceptance of your invitations

You can set chat invitations to be automatically accepted by users, so that your users don’t have the option to reject new messages. For more information, go to Automatically accept chat invitations.

Control external communication

To prevent external Google Workspace users from chatting with your users, we recommend that you turn off external communication as described in Control external Chat and spaces chat options.