Can several people administer the same group or channel?¶

A group or channel may have more than one administrator, owner or moderator.

Evidential caution: that the visible administrator is the only person capable of changing membership, permissions or content.

What this means¶

Many services allow several accounts to hold administrative roles. Those roles may differ. One account may own the space, another may manage members, another may approve new users and another may moderate content.

Roles can also change over time. A person may have held authority only during part of the group’s history. Ownership may be transferred, inherited or reassigned. A former administrator may no longer appear in the current role list.

In reports, describe the role held and the action supported by the evidence. Avoid collective attribution unless the evidence shows joint activity, coordination or agreement.

What to check or do next¶

• Preserve the full role structure where possible: owners, administrators, moderators and any custom permissions. Record stable account identifiers, role-change events and timestamps.
• Look for audit logs, system notices, provider records or organisational records showing who performed specific actions. Device evidence may also associate administrative activity with a particular session or device.
• Do not treat all administrators as equally responsible for every event. Separate access, authority and actual use. Also separate failure to act from proof that the administrator saw the material.

Evidential limits¶

Shared control complicates attribution. A member may have been removed, an invitation link created or a setting changed, but the current interface may not show which administrator performed the action.

Consider whether administrator accounts were shared, delegated or compromised. Even a record naming an account may not identify the person who used it at the time.