Subject: Orphaned Group: Cannot Appoint New Owner After Creator's Departure
Core Issue:
Our group is "orphaned" because the original creator has left or their account was deleted. There is no user with the "Owner" role or crown icon (👑) in the administrators list.
Actual Behavior:
As a result, no existing administrator can be promoted to owner. Key owner-level permissions, most critically "Transfer Group Ownership," are permanently locked and completely unavailable to any admin. The group is in a state of administrative deadlock.
Impact:
This poses a critical risk to the community (ours has >1,000 members). The group faces a management vacuum if current admins leave, which threatens its long-term stability and survival.
Expected Behavior:
Telegram should have a reliable ownership succession mechanism. For example:
Require an owner to transfer ownership before leaving the group.
Provide a recovery process (e.g., admin election) if an owner's account is deleted.
Request:
Is this a bug or an intended design limitation? We strongly request a feature to recover or re-assign ownership for orphaned groups to prevent communities from collapsing. This is a critical issue for group management.
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see Transfer ownership if creator account was deleted #772
for a long list of proposals and complaints.