How to Hide Account Link When Forwarding in Telegram

To hide your account link when forwarding messages, Telegram uses the privacy setting “Who can add a link to my account when forwarding my messages?”. This setting is located in the “Privacy and Security” section and allows you to choose between “Everyone,” “Contacts,” and “Nobody.” When you select “Nobody,” the link to your account will be hidden when forwarding any of your messages.

Table of Contents

• Privacy Settings for Users
• API Parameters for Forwarding
• Bot Capabilities for Determining Settings
• Practical Examples
• Conclusion

Privacy Settings for Users

Telegram provides built-in settings to control the visibility of your account link when forwarding messages:

How to change privacy settings:

1. Open Telegram and go to Settings
2. Select the Privacy and Security section → Messages
3. Find the option “Who can add a link to my account when forwarding my messages?”
4. Choose the appropriate option:
   • Everyone - any user can see your link when forwarding
   • Contacts - only your contacts
   • Nobody - the link is completely hidden

This setting works the same across all platforms - iOS, Android, and desktop clients.

API Parameters for Forwarding

For developers and bots, there are API parameters that affect forwarding behavior:

Main API Parameters

The protect_content parameter protects content from being forwarded:

# Example in Python using pyTelegramBotAPI
bot.send_message(
    chat_id=user_id,
    text="This is a protected message",
    protect_content=True
)

messages.forwardMessages Method

According to Telegram API documentation, the messages.forwardMessages method has several configuration parameters, although the provided sources don’t specify a particular parameter for hiding the account link.

Hiding the Sender’s Name

Different approaches exist for hiding the sender’s name when forwarding:

1. In mobile apps: Long-pressing the forward button opens a menu with an option to “Hide sender name”
2. For bots: Some bots may rephrase messages when forwarding to avoid indicating the original sender

Bot Capabilities for Determining Settings

From the provided sources, it’s unclear whether bots can detect if a user has enabled the account link hiding setting. However, there are some limitations:

Bot limitations:

• Bots cannot directly read user privacy settings
• Some API methods may return information about whether sender information is available
• When attempting to forward a message, an error or restriction may occur if the user has certain settings enabled

From community posts, it’s evident that users express concern about not being able to control how their messages are forwarded by others.

Practical Examples

Example 1: Setting Privacy in Telegram

1. Open Telegram
2. Go to Settings → Privacy and Security
3. Select Messages
4. Set the option “Who can add a link to my account when forwarding my messages?” to “Nobody”

Example 2: Forwarding a Message Without Sender Visibility

For mobile users:

1. Tap and hold the message
2. Tap the forward icon
3. In the forwarding menu, select the option to “Hide sender name”

Example 3: Using a Bot for Forwarding

Bots can use various approaches to mask the source:

# Example of a bot masking the sender
def forward_message_without_sender(message, bot):
    # Send a message indicating it's forwarded
    bot.send_message(
        chat_id=message.chat.id,
        text="Forwarded from a user"
    )
    # Forward the message
    bot.forward_message(
        chat_id=message.chat.id,
        from_chat_id=message.chat.id,
        message_id=message.message_id
    )

Conclusion

To hide your account link when forwarding messages in Telegram, use the privacy setting “Who can add a link to my account when forwarding my messages?”. This setting allows you to choose the visibility level of the link - from complete hiding to showing it to all users.

Key takeaways:

1. Users can control link visibility through privacy settings
2. The protect_content parameter prevents forwarding but doesn’t hide the link
3. Bots have limited capabilities for determining user privacy settings
4. For mobile users, there’s a feature to hide the sender’s name when forwarding

If you need additional content protection, consider using secret chats or channels with restricted forwarding settings.

Sources

1. Prevent Others from Sharing Your Telegram Account Link When Forwarding Your Messages - Gadget Hacks
2. Hide Author When Forwarding Telegram Messages - Junction Bot
3. How to Disable Message Forwarding on Telegram - Beebom
4. Privacy concern (Forwarding messages) - Reddit
5. How to Stop Message Forwarding in Telegram - TechTrickz
6. How to disable Telegram account link in forwarded messages - DroidViews
7. Telegram API - messages.forwardMessages
8. How to forward a message without showing sender’s name - Stack Overflow
9. How to hide sender’s name when forwarding a Telegram message - Make Community
10. How to Forward Message in Telegram without Sender Name - Techy Snoop