Why are students still able to start new unsupervised chats with each other in MS Teams

Question

We use MS A1, Roled based permissions in Teams settings is on, restricted messaging policy is assigned to all students, and full permission is given to the staff under a different non-restricted messaging policy. These policies have been applied as group and not direct assignment. All other pervious policies were unassigned first, and this new group policy has been inherited. Students are still able to start new 1:1 chats with each other. I have verified that the policy is showing under the user and staff (ALL student users have been assigned the same policy, all staff have been assigned an appropriate policy as well). This is beyond frustrating, if MS takes student online safety seriously, this should be a much easier process, a toggle would do the job, not jumping through hoops, and after doing everything excepted, the policy is not taking effect. The support at MS has gone downhill unfortunately. Has any other Admin run into this issue?

Answer 1

Hi @Jessie Mundy,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Thank you for reaching out regarding the issue with students still being able to start new chats in Microsoft Teams despite having a restricted messaging policy assigned.

I understand how important it is to ensure that the correct settings are applied, particularly in an educational environment, and I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this situation may have caused.

To ensure we resolve this securely, I have initiated a private message for your convenience and left a note there. At your earliest availability, please review that message so I can assist you more affectively.

To access your private messages, sign in to the Q&A forum using the account you used to post your question. Then, navigate to the Private Messages section to view and respond.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your response.

Answer 2

It sounds like you have taken the correct steps to apply the restricted messaging policy to your students in Microsoft Teams. However, there are a few things to consider that might help resolve the issue of students still being able to start unsupervised chats:

1. Policy Assignment: Ensure that the messaging policy is correctly assigned to all students. Sometimes, policies may not propagate as expected, and it might be worth double-checking the assignment status for each user.
2. Policy Inheritance: If there are any conflicting policies or if the students have inherited other policies that allow chat, this could override the restricted messaging policy. Make sure that no other policies are conflicting with the restrictions you have set.
3. Policy Propagation Time: After applying a new policy, it can take some time for the changes to take effect across all users. If you have just made the changes, give it some time and check again later.
4. Teams Settings: Review the overall Teams settings for your organization to ensure that there are no global settings that might allow students to chat with each other despite the messaging policy.
5. Support and Documentation: If the issue persists, consider reaching out to Microsoft support for further assistance. They may provide insights specific to your organization's setup that could help resolve the issue.

It's understandable to feel frustrated with the process, especially when it comes to ensuring student safety online. The configuration of Teams can be complex, and sometimes it requires thorough checking of all settings and policies involved.

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References:

• Teams messaging policy
• Manage messaging policies in Teams