Ban Or Kick Member From A Group

Learn how to kick, ban, and unban group members, fetch banned member lists, and receive real-time events using the CometChat JavaScript SDK.

AI Integration Quick Reference

// Kick a member
await CometChat.kickGroupMember("GUID", "UID");

// Ban a member
await CometChat.banGroupMember("GUID", "UID");

// Unban a member
await CometChat.unbanGroupMember("GUID", "UID");

// Fetch banned members
const request = new CometChat.BannedMembersRequestBuilder("GUID").setLimit(30).build();
const bannedMembers = await request.fetchNext();

There are certain actions that can be performed on the group members:

1. Kick a member from the group
2. Ban a member from the group
3. Unban a member from the group
4. Update the scope of the member of the group

Only Admins or Moderators can perform these actions.

Kick a Group Member

Admins or Moderators can remove a member using kickGroupMember(). The kicked user can rejoin the group later.

Kick Group Member

const GUID = "GUID";
const UID = "UID";

CometChat.kickGroupMember(GUID, UID).then(
response => {
  console.log("Group member kicked successfully", response);
}, error => {
  console.log("Group member kicking failed with error", error);
}
);

TypeScript

let GUID: string = "GUID";
let UID: string = "UID";

CometChat.kickGroupMember(GUID, UID).then(
  (response: Object) => {
      console.log("Group member kicked successfully", response);
  }, (error: CometChat.CometChatException) => {
      console.log("Group member kicking failed with error", error);
  }
);

The kickGroupMember() method takes the following parameters:

Parameter	Description
UID	The UID of the user to be kicked
GUID	The GUID of the group from which user is to be kicked

On success, the method resolves with a success message string.

Ban a Group Member

Admins or Moderators can ban a member using banGroupMember(). Unlike kicked users, banned users cannot rejoin until unbanned.

Ban Group Member

const GUID = "GUID";
const UID = "UID";

CometChat.banGroupMember(GUID, UID).then(
response => {
  console.log("Group member banned successfully", response);
}, error => {
  console.log("Group member banning failed with error", error);
}
);   

TypeScript

let GUID: string = "GUID";
let UID: string = "UID";

CometChat.banGroupMember(GUID, UID).then(
  (response: Object) => {
      console.log("Group member banned successfully", response);
  }, (error: CometChat.CometChatException) => {
      console.log("Group member banning failed with error", error);
  }
);

The banGroupMember() method takes the following parameters:

Parameter	Description
UID	The UID of the user to be banned
GUID	The GUID of the group from which user is to be banned

On success, the method resolves with a success message string.

Unban a Banned Group Member from a Group

Admins or Moderators can unban a previously banned member using unbanGroupMember().

Unban Group Member

const GUID = "GUID";
const UID = "UID";

CometChat.unbanGroupMember(GUID, UID).then(
response => {
  console.log("Group member unbanned successfully", response);
}, error => {
  console.log("Group member unbanning failed with error", error);
}
);  

TypeScript

let GUID: string = "GUID";
let UID: string = "UID";

CometChat.unbanGroupMember(GUID, UID).then(
  (response: Object) => {
      console.log("Group member unbanned successfully", response);
  }, (error: CometChat.CometChatException) => {
      console.log("Group member unbanning failed with error", error);
  }
);

The unbanGroupMember() method takes the following parameters

Parameter	Description
UID	The UID of the user to be unbanned
GUID	The GUID of the group from which user is to be unbanned

Once unbanned, the user can rejoin the group.

Get List of Banned Members for a Group

Use BannedMembersRequestBuilder to fetch banned members of a Group. The GUID must be specified in the constructor.

Set Limit

Sets the number of banned members to fetch per request.

Set Limit

let GUID = "GUID";
let limit = 30;
let bannedGroupMembersRequest = new CometChat.BannedMembersRequestBuilder(GUID)
  																.setLimit(limit)
  																.build();

TypeScript

let GUID: string = "GUID";
let limit: number = 30;
let bannedGroupMembersRequest: CometChat.BannedMembersRequest = new CometChat.BannedMembersRequestBuilder(GUID)
  .setLimit(limit)
  .build();

Set Search Keyword

Filters banned members by a search string.

Set Search Keyword

let GUID = "GUID";
let limit = 30;
let searchKeyword = "super";
let bannedGroupMembersRequest = new CometChat.BannedMembersRequestBuilder(GUID)
  																.setLimit(limit)
  																.setSearchKeyword(searchKeyword)
  																.build();

TypeScript

let GUID: string = "GUID";
let limit: number = 30;
let searchKeyword: string = "super";
let bannedGroupMembersRequest: CometChat.BannedMembersRequest = new CometChat.BannedMembersRequestBuilder(GUID)
  .setLimit(limit)
  .setSearchKeyword(searchKeyword)
  .build();

Once configured, call build() to create the request, then fetchNext() to retrieve banned members.

Banned Group Members Request

let GUID = "GUID";
let limit = 30;
let bannedMembersRequest = new CometChat.BannedMembersRequestBuilder(GUID)
  													.setLimit(limit)
  													.build();

bannedMembersRequest.fetchNext().then(
bannedMembers => {
  console.log("Banned Group Member list fetched successfully:", bannedMembers);
}, error => {
  console.log("Banned Group Member list fetching failed with exception:", error);
}
);

TypeScript

let GUID: string = "GUID";
let limit: number = 30;
let bannedGroupMembersRequest: CometChat.BannedMembersRequest = new CometChat.BannedMembersRequestBuilder(GUID)
  .setLimit(limit)
  .build();

bannedGroupMembersRequest.fetchNext().then(
  (bannedMembers: CometChat.GroupMember[]) => {
      console.log("Banned Group Member list fetched successfully:", bannedMembers);
  }, (error: CometChat.CometChatException) => {
      console.log("Banned Group Member list fetching failed with exception:", error);
  }
);

Real-Time Group Member Kicked/Banned Events

Implement these GroupListener methods to receive real-time notifications:

Method	Triggered When
onGroupMemberKicked()	A member is kicked
onGroupMemberBanned()	A member is banned
onGroupMemberUnbanned()	A member is unbanned

Group Listener

let listenerID = "UNIQUE_LISTENER_ID";

CometChat.addGroupListener(
listenerID,
new CometChat.GroupListener({
  onGroupMemberKicked: (message, kickedUser, kickedBy, kickedFrom) => {
    console.log("User kicked", { message, kickedUser, kickedBy, kickedFrom });
  },
  onGroupMemberBanned: (message, bannedUser, bannedBy, bannedFrom) => {
    console.log("User banned", { message, bannedUser, bannedBy, bannedFrom });
  },
  onGroupMemberUnbanned: (message, unbannedUser, unbannedBy,unbannedFrom) => {
    console.log("User unbanned", {message, unbannedUser, unbannedBy, unbannedFrom});
  }
})
);  

TypeScript

let listenerID: string = "UNIQUE_LISTENER_ID";

CometChat.addGroupListener(
  listenerID,
  new CometChat.GroupListener({
      onGroupMemberKicked: (message: CometChat.Action, kickedUser: CometChat.User, kickedBy: CometChat.User, kickedFrom: CometChat.Group) => {
          console.log("User kicked", { message, kickedUser, kickedBy, kickedFrom });
      },
      onGroupMemberBanned: (message: CometChat.Action, bannedUser: CometChat.User, bannedBy: CometChat.User, bannedFrom: CometChat.Group) => {
          console.log("User banned", { message, bannedUser, bannedBy, bannedFrom });
      },
      onGroupMemberUnbanned: (message: CometChat.Action, unbannedUser: CometChat.User, unbannedBy: CometChat.User, unbannedFrom: CometChat.Group) => {
          console.log("User unbanned", { message, unbannedUser, unbannedBy, unbannedFrom });
      }
  })
);

Always remove group listeners when they’re no longer needed (e.g., on component unmount or page navigation). Failing to remove listeners can cause memory leaks and duplicate event handling.

CometChat.removeGroupListener("UNIQUE_LISTENER_ID");

Missed Group Member Kicked/Banned Events

When fetching previous messages, kick/ban/unban actions appear as Action messages (a subclass of BaseMessage).

Kicked event:

Field	Value/Type	Description
action	"kicked"	The action type
actionBy	User	The user who kicked the member
actionOn	User	The member who was kicked
actionFor	Group	The group

Banned event:

Field	Value/Type	Description
action	"banned"	The action type
actionBy	User	The user who banned the member
actionOn	User	The member who was banned
actionFor	Group	The group

Unbanned event:

Field	Value/Type	Description
action	"unbanned"	The action type
actionBy	User	The user who unbanned the member
actionOn	User	The member who was unbanned
actionFor	Group	The group

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Next Steps

Add Members

Add new members to a group

Change Member Scope

Promote or demote group members

Retrieve Group Members

Fetch the list of members in a group

Leave a Group

Allow members to leave a group