Telegram error 400: Bad Request: not enough rights to send text messages to the chat

The chat's permission model allows the bot to be present but not to send the kind of content you just tried. Telegram's granular chat permissions distinguish text messages from photos, videos, documents, polls, stickers and other media, and the description names the content type that was refused. Variants you may see include not enough rights to send photos to the chat, ... documents ..., ... polls ... and similar; the entry here covers the family.

This is a 400 because the request itself is wrong for the chat state, not because the bot is banned (403) or because the chat is unknown (chat not found). The bot will usually be a regular member subject to the group's default permissions, or a restricted member with a custom permission set.

Admin bots are normally exempt, which is why this error tends to appear after a bot is demoted or after an admin tightens group settings.

{"ok":false,"error_code":400,"description":"Bad Request: not enough rights to send text messages to the chat"}

Treat group permissions as data: cache the bot's rights per chat from my_chat_member updates and check them before sending media. Provide a fallback (for example a link instead of a photo) when a content type is disallowed, and surface a clear admin-facing message explaining which right is missing.

Because the description names the refused content type, log it verbatim: 'photos' vs 'text messages' tells you which permission to request. The granular permission list lives on the ChatPermissions object; the related wordings are covered under have no rights to send a message and CHAT_WRITE_FORBIDDEN.