# Managing elastic channel members for Amazon Chime SDK meetings
<a name="manage-elastic-members"></a>

To manage the members in an elastic channel, use the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/chime-sdk/latest/APIReference/API_messaging-chime_CreateChannelMembership.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/chime-sdk/latest/APIReference/API_messaging-chime_CreateChannelMembership.html), [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/chime-sdk/latest/APIReference/API_messaging-chime_CreateChannelModerator.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/chime-sdk/latest/APIReference/API_messaging-chime_CreateChannelModerator.html), and [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/chime-sdk/latest/APIReference/API_messaging-chime_CreateChannelBan.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/chime-sdk/latest/APIReference/API_messaging-chime_CreateChannelBan.html) APIs. The following information explains how to use them.

**Channel memberships**  
The `CreateChannelMembership` API creates memberships at the sub-channel level. sub-channels can include moderators and regular members.  
+ **Moderators** – You can add moderators to multiple sub-channels. That allows the moderators to send messages on each of the sub-channels they belong to. When you add a moderator to a sub-channel, you must provide the `SubChannelId`.

  If you want to assign moderators to new sub-channels automatically, you can [enable message streaming](streaming-export.md), listen for sub-channel creation events, and then create a moderator membership in response to those events.

  Finally, you can delete moderators from specific sub-channels, or from all sub-channels. You use the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/chime-sdk/latest/APIReference/API_messaging-chime_DeleteChannelMembership.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/chime-sdk/latest/APIReference/API_messaging-chime_DeleteChannelMembership.html) API in both cases. To delete a moderator from a specific sub-channel, you provide the `SubChannelId`. If you don't provide an ID for a sub-channel, the system removes the moderator from all sub-channels. Finally, you can use the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/chime-sdk/latest/APIReference/API_messaging-chime_ListSubChannels](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/chime-sdk/latest/APIReference/API_messaging-chime_ListSubChannels) API to list the sub-channels and the number of members in each.
+ **Regular members** – These comprise the majority of channel memberships. You can only add a regular member to one sub-channel. Also, you can't pass a `SubChannelId` when creating or deleting channel memberships, because the system controls which sub-channel a membership is created in.

**Channel moderators**  
The `CreateChannelModerator` API creates moderators at the elastic channel level. Moderators can view all messages in all sub-channels. When you promote a regular member to channel moderator, the system removes all existing channel memberships for that member. The same happens when you demote a moderator.

**Channel bans**  
The `CreateChannelBan` API creates bans at the elastic channel level. A banned `AppInstanceUser` can't belong to any sub-channel. When you ban a member, the system removes all the channel memberships for that member.