ViaCleanerBot: Remove Via Messages

Someone in your group posts a GIF through inline mode for the hundredth time, with a grey "via" tag and a bot name underneath. One such post is fine. Ten in a row bury the discussion. ViaCleanerBot does one job: it deletes those messages in a group automatically. 🧹

Setup takes a minute, and after that the bot works without you.

What a via message is

In Telegram you can type an inline bot's name in the message field and pick a result: a GIF, a sticker, a link, a song. The message goes to the chat under your name, tagged "via" with the bot's name.

A standard group setting to ban those messages does not exist. A bot that deletes them fills exactly that gap. It does not forbid inline mode, it removes the result.

Connect it in a minute

1. Open the bot's profile and choose to add it to a group.
2. Make it an admin: per its description, it will not work otherwise.
3. Keep only the needed right: deleting messages. The bot needs nothing else.
4. Test it on yourself: send an inline result to the group and see if it disappears.

The bot has no commands: no menus, no settings. It simply watches the chat. 🔧

When it comes in handy

• Topic chat: people discuss work or study, and the feed turns into a GIF warehouse.
• Large group: moderators cannot clean up by hand.
• Ad-prone chat: inline bots are sometimes used to push promotional content.
• Work group: important messages get lost among the fun.

If everyone in your chat loves GIFs and stickers via inline, you do not need this bot. It is for keeping strict order. 🎯

Admin rights: should you worry

Giving admin rights to an outside bot is always a risk. A bot with broad rights can invite people, change settings and pin messages. A malicious one can leak information about the chat.

So the rule is simple: give the bot exactly what it needs. Deleting via messages requires only the right to delete messages. Switch everything else off.

If the bot does not delete anything

1. Check its status: it must be a group admin, not a regular member.
2. Check the right: deleting messages must be enabled.
3. Try reassigning: remove the bot from admins and add it back.
4. Check the message type: the bot removes only messages tagged via and leaves ordinary text and photos alone.

If the problem persists, bring in another admin and compare permissions. Group settings might be limiting the bot.

Warn your members

People dislike it when their messages vanish without explanation. Pin a short rule in the group: messages sent through inline bots are removed automatically here. Then nobody wonders where the GIF went.

If some members still want to share GIFs, set up a separate group or topic where the bot is absent. The main discussion stays tidy, and the fun has somewhere to go.

The alternative: your own script

Telegram marks such messages in its data: a message has a via_bot field. A developer can write a tiny bot that checks that field and calls the delete method. If you do not code, a ready-made bot is simpler. 💡