Report offensive messages

Users can report offensive messages directly from your app. Reported messages publish to PUBNUB_INTERNAL_MODERATION_{channel_id} and emit report events.

Add custom logic using emitted events to handle reported messages (e.g., delete them).

Message Persistence

Enable Message Persistence in the Admin Portal.

All moderation-related methods call PubNub Pub/Sub API and the JavaScript SDK publish() method.

Under the hood

Flag/Report messages

report() flags a message for admin review. Reports publish to PUBNUB_INTERNAL_MODERATION_{channel_id} (e.g., reporting on support sends to PUBNUB_INTERNAL_MODERATION_support).

Method signature

This method takes the following parameters:

1message.report(reason: string): Promise<any>

Input

* required

Parameter	Description
reason * Type: string Default: n/a	Reason for reporting/flagging a given message.

Output

Type	Description
Promise<any>	Returned object with a value of any type.

Sample code

Report the last message on the support channel as offensive.

1// reference the "incident-management" channel
2const channel = await chat.getChannel("support")
3// get the last message on the channel
4const lastMessage = (await channel.getHistory({count: 1})).messages[0]
5// report the message to the admin and provide the reason
6await message.report("This message contains profane words. Can you remove it?")

Get historical reported messages

getMessageReportsHistory() fetches reported message events for a channel with optional time and count filters.

Method signature

This method takes the following parameters:

1channel.getMessageReportsHistory(params?: {
2    startTimetoken?: string;
3    endTimetoken?: string;
4    count?: number;
5}): Promise<{
6    events: Event<"report">[];
7    isMore: boolean;
8}>

Input

* required

Parameter	Description
startTimetoken Type: string Default: n/a	The start timetoken for fetching the history of reported messages, which allows specifying the point in time where the history retrieval should begin.
endTimetoken Type: string Default: n/a	The end time token for fetching the history of reported messages, which allows specifying the point in time where the history retrieval should end.
count Type: number Default: undefined	The number of reported message events to fetch from the history.

Output

Parameter	Description
Promise<> Type: object	Returned object containing these fields: events and isMore.
→ events Type: Event<"report">[]	An array of events where each event is of the type "report". These events represent the reported messages in the specified channel.
→ isMore Type: boolean	A boolean flag indicating whether there are more reported message events available apart from the ones fetched in the current operation.

Sample code

Fetch historical messages reported on the support channel between the 1725100800000 (July 1, 2024, 00:00:00 UTC) and 1726780799000 (July 21, 2024, 23:59:59 UTC) timetokens.

1// Example start and end timetokens
2const startTimetoken = "1725100800000"; // July 1, 2024, 00:00:00 UTC in milliseconds
3const endTimetoken = "1726780799000";   // July 21, 2024, 23:59:59 UTC in milliseconds
4

5// asynchronously fetch the channel object and then get the reported messages history
6async function fetchReportedMessagesHistory() {
7    try {
8        // reference the "chat" object and invoke the "getChannel()" method
9        const channel = await chat.getChannel("support");
10

11        // fetch the reported message history
12        const { events, isMore } = await channel.getMessageReportsHistory({
13            startTimetoken,
14            endTimetoken
15        });
16

17        console.log("Reported Events:", events);
18        console.log("Is there more data?:", isMore);
19    } catch (error) {
20        console.error("Error fetching message reports history:", error);
21    }
22}
23

24// call the function to fetch reported messages history
25fetchReportedMessagesHistory();

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Listen to report events

streamMessageReports() monitors report events for moderation dashboards.

Events documentation

See Chat events for report event details.

Method signature

This method has the following parameters:

1channel.streamMessageReports(
2    callback: (event: Event<"report">) => void
3): () => void

Input

* required

Parameter	Description
channel Type: string Default: n/a	Channel to listen for new report events.
type Type: string Default: n/a	Type of events. report is the type defined for all events emitted when an offensive message is flagged/reported.
callback * Type: n/a Default: n/a	Callback function passed as a parameter. It defines the custom behavior to be executed whenever a report event type is detected on the specified channel.

Output

Type	Description
() => void	Function you can call to disconnect (unsubscribe) from the channel and stop receiving report events.

Sample code

Print a notification for an offensive message reported on the support channel.

1const channel = await chat.getChannel("support")
2channel.streamMessageReports((event) => {
3  console.log("Report event: ", event)
4})

Flag/Report messages (deprecated)

DEPRECATED_report() lets you flag and report an inappropriate message to the admin. All reported messages (events of type report) are sent to one dedicated INTERNAL_ADMIN_CHANNEL channel (one "bucket" for all reported messages).

Method signature

This method takes the following parameters:

1message.DEPRECATED_report(reason: string): Promise<any>

Input

* required

Parameter	Description
reason * Type: string Default: n/a	Reason for reporting/flagging a given message.

Output

Type	Description
Promise<any>	Returned object with a value of any type.

Sample code

Report the last message on the support channel as offensive.

1// reference the "incident-management" channel
2const channel = await chat.getChannel("support")
3// get the last message on the channel
4const lastMessage = (await channel.getHistory({count: 1})).messages[0]
5// report the message to the admin and provide the reason
6await message.DEPRECATED_report("This message contains profane words. Can you remove it?")