WhatsApp group permissions: give power without making someone admin

Setting up WhatsApp group permissions looks simple: a person is either an admin or not. In real life, you want the moderator to delete messages without being able to remove you, the person in charge of announcements to use the tag-everyone feature and the newcomer to touch nothing.

WhatsApp gives you only two layers. Here is what it offers, the risk of having too many admins and how Becca builds middle layers so you can grant permission without making anyone admin.

What WhatsApp offers

In the Group settings, the app lets you control the following:

• Admin or member: admins control the group, members do not.
• Group info: decides whether everyone or only admins can change the name, icon and description.
• Send messages: everyone can talk or only admins (Only admins).
• Edit group participants: who can add new people.
• Approve new members: newcomers go through a screening.

The limit is that everything applies to the whole group. There is no middle ground like can delete messages but cannot remove admins. The only way to give someone more power is to make them an admin.

The risk of too many admins

An admin can remove people from the group, change the invite link and delete anyone's messages. A hacked account, a fight between admins or a rushed promotion, and the group is in trouble within minutes.

Rule of thumb: admin only for someone you would trust with the key to your house. For everyone else, grant only the permission the person needs.

Monitors: a helper without admin

!addmonitor @member creates a monitor. They can use !ban, !deletar, !limpar, !mutar, !unmute, !advertir, !desadvertir and !advertidos, but never against an admin. The other admin commands stay out of their reach. !monitores shows the list and !rmmonitor removes someone from the role.

It is the first step: it works for people who only need to moderate messages and members.

Roles: tailor-made permission

When a monitor is too broad, create a role. Each role unlocks only the commands you choose, for the people you put in it:

• !criarcargo Promotion creates the role.
• !addcargocmd Promotion | hidetag unlocks an admin command for it.
• !addcargo Promotion | @member puts the person in the role.

To manage them: !cargos lists the roles, !infocargo Promotion shows commands and members, !meuscargos shows the roles of whoever asks, !rmcargo removes a member, !rmcargocmd removes a command and !deletarcargo deletes the whole role. Someone with a role cannot apply the command to an admin, so the power always has a ceiling.

Examples of roles that make sense:

• Promotion: !hidetag, so whoever posts the general announcements can tag everyone without showing the @ mentions.
• Events: !enquete and !enquetem, for whoever organizes the group's polls.
• Secretary: !anotar, !notas and !nota, for whoever keeps the group rules and notices up to date.

To choose between the two, ask whether the job is moderation or a specific task. A monitor fits whoever will look after rules and messages; a role fits whoever will handle announcements, polls or notes and needs nothing beyond that.

Locks: !soadm, !blockcmd and !blockcmduser

Granting permission also means knowing how to take it away. Three locks help:

• !soadm: only admins (and people with a role that includes that command) can use Becca's commands. Good for big groups where too much fooling around gets in the way of the conversation.
• !blockcmd marcar: blocks a command for regular members (admins and authorized members can still use it). Swap marcar for any command you want to lock.
• !blockcmduser figurinha | @member: blocks the command for one person only, the one abusing it, without punishing everyone else. It does not work on admin commands.

!autorizar: immune to protections

Permission can also be the opposite of punishment. Anyone on !autorizar is ignored by the protections that look at messages (!antilink, !antiflood, !antipalavrao and the rest), even without being an admin. It works for the business owner who posts the store link, for the guest who sends a long voice note or for anyone trusted who should not get a warning by mistake. To take someone off the list, use !desautorizar @member. Admins are also ignored by those protections. The exceptions are !antifake, which looks at the number of whoever joins, and !antiligar, which looks at whoever calls the group: neither one checks the list.

Next step

List who is an admin today and ask about each one: does this person really need everything? If not, remove the admin role in WhatsApp and give them a monitor spot or a role with the right commands. Becca handles this for R$ 15 per group per month, no lock-in, paid by Pix or card. A safe group is not the one with the fewest people holding power: it is the one that gives each person the right amount of it.