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How to Whitelist Allowed Domains for Links in Telm

Step-by-step tutorial: turn on the link filter in Telm and whitelist the domains you allow, so only trusted links pass and spam links are blocked.

5 min read
In short

Open your group, go to the Filters tab, open the Links section, turn on the Link filter, then add your trusted domains under Allowed domains. Only links from those domains (plus built-in trusted ones) will pass. Save your changes and you are done.

Add trusted domains to the allowed list on the Links tab.

Want to set this up? Do it right in your Telm account.

Open in your dashboard

1What a domain whitelist does

A domain whitelist is your list of trusted websites. With the link filter on and a whitelist set, the bot allows links only from the domains you approve and treats every other link as suspicious.

It is the strongest way to stop link spam in communities where members only ever need to share a few known sites, such as your own service and its docs.

  • Allowed domains always pass, even from brand-new members.
  • Telm scoring already trusts many well-known domains by default, but the strict link filter checks only your own whitelist, so you only add your own.
  • You can also keep a separate blocked-domains list for links to always reject.

2Turn on the link filter

The whitelist only matters when the link filter is active, so switch it on first.

Open the dashboard, pick your group, open the Filters tab, and switch to the Links section. Turn on the Link filter toggle. The Allowed domains and Blocked domains fields appear right below it.

3Adding domains the right way

Enter each domain as a bare host name, in lower case, without http, without www and without a trailing slash. Press Enter after each one to add it as a tag.

  • Correct: yourservice.com
  • Correct: docs.yourservice.com
  • Avoid: https://yourservice.com/ or www.yourservice.com
  • Add each subdomain you actually use as its own entry.
Do not forget t.me if your members share Telegram links, and add your own site before enforcing, otherwise your own links could be flagged.

4Whitelist vs blocked domains

The Allowed domains list and the Blocked domains list solve two different jobs. Use whichever matches how open your group is.

  • Allowed domains (whitelist): strict. Best for tight communities, only these links pass.
  • Blocked domains (blacklist): relaxed. Links are generally allowed, but these specific domains are always rejected.
  • For keyword-based blocking that is not about links, create a rule instead, see the custom rule tutorial.
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