Why isn't my bot deleting spam in my Telegram group?

Open Bots → your bot → Moderation and check the status line and each group's status. The usual causes:

• The bot is not an admin, or lacks rights. It needs Delete messages to moderate at all, and Ban users for mutes and bans. Fix the rights in Telegram, then press Check again.
• Test mode is on. The Journal fills up with entries marked Test, but nothing is deleted. Turn off Test mode (only log) and save.
• Moderation or the group is switched off. Both Moderate groups and the group's own switch must be on.
• The bot is paused. Activate it in the bot header.
• The group is missing from the list. The bot was added as a regular member. Make it an admin and wait about a minute.
• The message came from someone who is never moderated: group admins, anonymous admins, your linked channel, and other bots.
• The New members rule let a photo through. Only members who joined while moderation was on count as new. Use Links and invites or the AI filter for everyone else.

If normal messages are deleted as profanity, open the dictionary and remove that word; the Journal shows which rule matched. Learn more: Group Moderation troubleshooting.