# Can we prevent an admin from seeing a private category?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-we-prevent-an-admin-from-seeing-a-private-category/183458
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [March 16, 2021, 9:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-we-prevent-an-admin-from-seeing-a-private-category/183458 "2021-03-16T21:37:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Wall-E](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Wall-E)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2021, 9:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-we-prevent-an-admin-from-seeing-a-private-category/183458/1 "2021-03-16T21:37:03Z")
Just saw this video on making private categories for a group of users:
> [@Understanding groups and category permissions](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-use-category-security-settings-to-create-private-categories/87678):
>
> bookmark This guide explains how to manage category visibility and user permissions using groups in Discourse. person_raising_hand Required user level: Administrator Groups and category permissions are crucial for managing access and content creation within your Discourse community. This guide will help you understand how to use these features effectively. Summary Category permissions control visibility and user actions Permissions are managed through group access lists Different perm…
The question came up in our community. As the admin of our self-hosted instance, can I create a private category for a group, and offer them complete privacy so that I am not able to see what they post? That group would have its own admin/moderators for that private category.
---
### Author:  [@simon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/simon)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2021, 9:41pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-we-prevent-an-admin-from-seeing-a-private-category/183458/2 "2021-03-16T21:41:31Z")
> [@Wall-E](#):
>
> As the admin of our self-hosted instance, can I create a private category for a group, and offer them complete privacy so that I am not able to see what they post?
No, the only thing I am aware of to prevent admins from reading content on the site is to encrypt PMs with [Discourse Encrypt (deprecated)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-encrypt-for-private-messages/107918). Otherwise, site admins are able to access the site’s database, so there would be no point in attempting to hide content from them.
---
### Author:  [@Wall-E](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Wall-E)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2021, 9:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-we-prevent-an-admin-from-seeing-a-private-category/183458/3 "2021-03-16T21:48:16Z")
Is the MathJax plugin supporting this encryption? Will People writing equations be able to send that encrypted while still being displayed nicely on the receiving end?