How can I prevent people from adding others into Teams "Teams" and channels?

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How can I prevent people from adding others into Teams "Teams" and channels?

DJonesTP 20

My company has two sides to its business. Both sides are under the same Microsoft 365 tenant. They can be called Group A and Group B. Group A should not be able to add those from Group B into teams and channels on their own. Likewise, Group B should not be able to add those from Group A. If either side wants to add the other to a team or channels, this should be limited to IT. This has to be done while still allowing members of Group A and members of Group B the ability to have 1 on 1 and group chats. Does anyone have any suggestion how to do this?

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Answer 1

Kristen-L 6,895 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @DJonesTP,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

Thank you for sharing the details of your scenario. I understand the importance of maintaining separation between your two business groups while still allowing collaboration through chat.

By default, Microsoft Teams lets team owners add any user from the same Microsoft 365 tenant to their teams and channels. There are no built-in restrictions between internal groups unless you apply specific policies.

Here are suggestions you can try to troubleshoot:

Use Sensitivity labels for Teams

Assign labels to enforce membership rules:

Teams designated for Group A → Only members from Group A can join.
Teams designated for Group B → Only members from Group B can join.

This approach ensures that adding members from another group requires IT approval.

For your reference: Sensitivity labels for Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn

Restrict Team creation

Goal: Limit the ability to create new teams to IT or a designated security group.

Refer to Manage who can create Microsoft 365 Groups
This includes using PowerShell to control group creation, which impacts Teams, Planner, and SharePoint.
Alternative resource: Restrict Users from Creating New Teams in Microsoft Teams

Governance and membership management

Please to see Plan for governance in Teams (Microsoft Learn) for details on naming conventions, guest access, and membership controls.
For policy setting, check Teams settings and policies reference which lists all configurable options in the Teams admin center.

Note: Microsoft is providing this information as a convenience to you. The sites are not controlled by Microsoft. Microsoft cannot make any representations regarding the quality, safety, or suitability of any software or information found there. Please make sure that you completely understand the risk before retrieving any suggestions from the above link.

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We appreciate your efforts to maintain secure and organized collaboration within your organization.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you.

I look forward to your thoughts on this.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

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DJonesTP 20 Reputation points

2025-11-24T15:49:19.5033333+00:00

Thank you for the suggestion of sensitivity labels. I will test this and see if it works for my organization and update here afterwards.
Kristen-L 6,895 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-24T17:01:36.8033333+00:00

Hi @DJonesTP,

Thank you for exploring sensitivity labels. That sounds like a great plan. Please feel free to test them and let us know how they work for your organization. I'm here to support you with any questions or next steps whenever you’re ready to share an update.

If you found my answer helpful, I'd truly appreciate it if you could mark it as the "Accepted Answer". Doing so will pin it to the top of the thread, making it easier for others in the community to discover useful insights and find the right guidance quickly. Your contribution not only helps resolve your question, it also supports fellow users who may be facing the same challenge.

Thank you very much, and I wish you a great day.
DJonesTP 20 Reputation points

2025-12-01T18:31:21.8233333+00:00

Hello Kristen,

Unfortunately this does not appear to be the right solution (if one exists) for what I'm looking for. The sensitivity labels seem to be best to control who joins a meeting or a sharepoint, not limiting who can add someone else to an existing team or channel. Unless there's some other option, taking more manual control over who can create a Team might be necessary.
Kristen-L 6,895 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-12-01T22:32:39.5+00:00

Hi @DJonesTP,

Thank you for clarifying your requirements. Unfortunately, Microsoft Teams does not currently include a built-in feature to prevent team owners from adding members within the same tenant based on organizational groups. Sensitivity labels primarily manage access and privacy settings, but they do not control the ability to add members to existing teams or channels.

One option to consider is implementing membership management policies. You can establish governance strategies and approval workflows for adding members across groups by using Power Automate to create approval processes and Teams Admin Center to enforce policies.

At present, Microsoft Teams does not provide a native way to block team owners from adding users from other internal groups while still allowing chat. The most practical workaround is a combination of manual governance and restricting team creation permissions.

I truly appreciate you sharing your feedback because it highlights a thoughtful and practical need that many organizations likely share. Suggestions like yours help us improve Microsoft Teams in meaningful ways.

I highly encourage you to submit your feedback directly through the Microsoft 365 Feedback Hub by selecting Send Feedback and describing your proposal in detail. Microsoft actively reviews user feedback to guide future updates, and the more input they receive on this topic, the higher the chance it will be prioritized. I will also make a note of your suggestion on my end to help bring attention to it.

Once you have submitted your feedback, feel free to share the link here in the comments. I will gladly upvote it to help increase visibility. Additionally, if my response has helped clarify the situation and guide you toward a next step, please mark it as the Accepted Answer. Doing so will pin this post, making it easier for others with similar concerns to find and support your feedback.

Thank you for your contributions and for helping improve the community.

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How can I prevent people from adding others into Teams "Teams" and channels?

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