AI notetaker joined your meeting uninvited? How to remove and block Otter, Fireflies, Read.ai, tl;dv and Fathom

Last checked October 21, 2026. Settings get renamed often, so tell us if one has moved.

You didn't invite it, but there it is in the participant list. You're not alone. It's the most common complaint we found about meeting notetakers:

"seeing Otter.ai join. Had to track down which person was using it, and even they were clueless as to how it got there" (Hacker News)

"Suddenly that AI is adding itself to every meeting that user is in and then it spreads to the rest of Teams." (r/sysadmin)

"A 300 person meeting, their spam bot sends out 300 emails." (Hacker News)

Jump to: Kick it out now · Why it keeps coming back · Otter · Fireflies · Read.ai · tl;dv · Fathom · For IT admins · FAQ

Kick it out now

Anyone in the meeting can do most of these. You don't need an account with the tool.

Good to know: Fireflies says that if it's removed in the first 3 minutes, no transcript or notes are created (Fireflies Guide). Read says one person typing Opt Out ends the recording for everyone and deletes that session's data (Read Help).

Why it keeps coming back

Three reasons, all from the vendors' own docs:

1. It's someone else's account. Fireflies lists "a participant/meeting invitee has an active Fireflies account" as the reason it can still show up after you delete yours (Fireflies). Read says the same, and its bot's chat message names who invited it (Read). In that case your settings won't help. Ask the person named, or ask the host to block it (see For IT admins).
2. Old per-meeting settings survive. In Otter, changing the default auto-join setting doesn't touch events you'd already toggled by hand (Otter).
3. Uninstalling the app isn't the off switch. tl;dv says removing its Chrome extension or desktop app does not stop it being invited to your meetings; auto-record is a separate setting (tl;dv). Read's account deletion page reminds Zoom users to turn off its Zoom app too (Read).

Otter

Remove from a live meeting. Type stop otter in the Zoom, Google Meet or Teams chat. If you own the Otter account, you can also stop it from the conversation page or the homepage calendar and confirm with Yes, turn it off (source).

Stop auto-join.

1. Sign in to Otter.ai.
2. Go to Integrations → Meetings, open Default auto-join settings.
3. Choose Meetings I manually select.
4. Check your upcoming calendar events. Any event you'd switched on by hand stays on until you switch it off.

Otter says changes made less than 30 minutes before a meeting may not take effect in time (source).

Disconnect your calendar (source): sign in to Otter.ai, click Integrations in the left menu, scroll to the calendar section and click Disconnect next to the calendar. Future synced events are removed immediately. On the mobile app: Account → Account Settings → Connect calendars (under SETUP), tap the X next to the calendar, then Remove connection. An Apple Calendar synced on iPhone can only be disconnected in the mobile app. If Notetaker still joins, check Account Settings → Meetings for auto-join.

Delete your account. Turn off auto-join, disconnect calendars, export anything you want to keep and cancel any paid plan first. Then go to Account Settings → General, scroll to the bottom and click Delete account, verify your password (or Google/Microsoft/Apple sign-in) with Verify and continue, and confirm Delete account. The option only appears if you're the only user in your workspace; otherwise contact your workspace owner/admin. Deletion can't be undone, and paid subscriptions are forfeited (source).

Fireflies

Remove from a live meeting (source):

• Chat: type /ff leave.
• Zoom: participant list → More next to Fireflies Notetaker → Remove.
• Google Meet: participant list → ⋮ next to Fireflies → Remove from the call.
• Teams: participant list → … next to Fireflies → Remove from meeting.
• Account owner: on the Fireflies Home dashboard, click the Stop icon on the Live meeting banner.

Stop auto-join (source):

1. In the Fireflies web app, open Settings → Recording & Privacy.
2. In the Recording section, turn off Auto-record meetings. It saves automatically.
3. Or, from Home → Settings, change Auto-join calendar meetings from All meetings to Only when I invite [email protected].
4. Check Recording Rules too. Fireflies notes it may still join meetings that match a rule.

If you invited it to one event, remove [email protected] from that event's guest list in Google or Outlook Calendar.

Disconnect calendar / stop all access. Fireflies doesn't document a separate "disconnect calendar" button. Its guide says that to completely remove its access to your Google account and calendar you need to delete your Fireflies account; to keep the account, change your Auto-record meetings settings instead (source). Fireflies also notes that signing up with Google or Outlook integrates that calendar automatically, one calendar per account (source).

Delete your account (source): Settings → Account → Delete my account, pick a reason, click Continue, then Delete Account. The account is deactivated immediately and data is permanently deleted after 30 days. Cancelling a paid plan alone does not delete the account.

Getting "time to prepare" emails you never signed up for? One executive assistant described exactly that (r/ExecutiveAssistants). Fireflies says these come from a meeting with a Fireflies user, whose name is in the recap email. You can ask them to change their sharing setting to Only Me, or unsubscribe yourself: click unsubscribe at the bottom of the email (or Fireflies' unsubscribe page), enter your email, open the link Fireflies emails you, uncheck Meeting recaps (and any other email types), then click Update email preferences (source). The docs we checked only mention meeting recaps by name.

Read.ai

Remove from a live meeting (source):

• Zoom and Google Meet (when Read joins as a participant): type Read Stop (leaves, report generated) or Opt Out (leaves, data deleted).
• Teams: Read posts an opt-out link. Use the link or remove Read as a participant. Chat commands don't work there.
• Google Meet native integration (Read doesn't appear as a participant): click the Read logo top right → Stop sharing; to opt out, open the 9-dot grid bottom right → Read AI app → Read logo → Opt out.

If someone is using Read's desktop or mobile app, nothing joins the call and the chat commands don't apply. Read's advice is to ask the host directly (source).

Stop auto-join (source): go to Account Settings → Meeting Recording → Auto-Join Preferences and turn off Auto-join meetings; Read will then be off by default for all your meetings. Or keep it on and limit it to events you host and/or internal meetings only (work email domains only). For single meetings or a recurring series, toggle Add Read? on your Calendar page. Others in the meeting may still bring their own Read.

Disconnect your calendar (source): go to Integrations → Calendar & Meetings, click each active calendar, then Disconnect. If it's your Smart Scheduler calendar you'll need to switch Smart Scheduler off first. Read says this takes effect immediately; it can still join if another Read user invites it.

Delete your account (source):

1. Sign in with the same method you signed up with (Google, Microsoft, Zoom SSO or email).
2. Account Settings → Advanced → Delete my account → Yes, delete my account.
3. If you installed Read's Zoom app, turn off Auto-open in meetings, or remove it at marketplace.zoom.us/user/installed.

Read.ai creating an account for you just because you opened a summary is a real complaint (r/buhaydigital), so check for that account even if you never signed up.

tl;dv

Remove from a live meeting. Deny the bot when it asks to join, or remove it like any other participant. If nobody admits it within 10 minutes, it gives up and nothing is recorded (source, source).

Stop auto-join (source):

1. Log in to tl;dv and open your personal preferences.
2. Under Automations, find Auto-record calendar events.
3. Choose No meetings.

You can also switch recording off for a single event from the calendar view. Uninstalling the Chrome extension or desktop app does not change this setting.

Disconnect your calendar. tl;dv doesn't document a disconnect button. Its calendar article says that, for Google, the integration lives in your Google account's connections at myaccount.google.com/connections (source). Google says you can remove a third-party app there with See details → Remove access (Google Account Help). We found no equivalent step for Microsoft calendars in tl;dv's docs, so turn auto-record off (above) or delete the account.

Delete your account (source): go to tldv.io/app/settings/personal-settings/profile and click delete account. tl;dv says all data is deleted and no logs are kept. To cancel a paid plan first: Settings → Plan & Billing → Manage subscription, then Cancel or pause plan on Stripe.

Fathom

Remove from a live meeting (source): Fathom lists Cancel Recording as the meeting starts, Stop Recording, pausing or ending the recording, or manually removing Fathom from the meeting room. On Zoom, the bot's owner can also type leave in the meeting chat. That command only works for the owner, not other attendees (source). Other attendees have to ask the host to remove it or keep it out of the waiting room.

Stop auto-join and auto-sharing (source):

1. Open Fathom Settings.
2. In the first drop-down, choose No Meetings. Fathom will only record when you start it yourself.
3. In the next drop-down (what's shared after the meeting), choose Nothing if you don't want attendees emailed a summary or recording.
4. Under Video Conferencing, turn off auto-capture for unscheduled Zoom meetings and Slack Huddles (source).

Disconnect (source): in Zoom Marketplace go to Manage → Installed Apps, find Fathom and click Uninstall. If you'd turned on auto-record or auto-request recording consent, also switch those off at fathom.video/customize.

Delete your account (source): go to Settings, scroll to the bottom and click Delete Account. It takes about 12 hours. On a Team plan the button isn't there, so ask your Fathom Team Admin.

For IT admins

Microsoft Teams

Teams can detect external bots and hold them in the lobby (Microsoft Learn):

1. In the Teams admin center, open Meetings → Meeting policies.
2. In the Meeting join & lobby section, find Manage external bots and their access to meetings.
3. Keep or set When detected, require approval before joining (the default). Detected bots go to the lobby regardless of lobby settings, and organizers must admit them explicitly.

Microsoft also recommends letting only organizers and co-organizers admit people from the lobby. It notes that some bots may not be detected, and that people can occasionally be misflagged as bots. Microsoft has also reportedly been rolling out an option that blocks detected bots automatically instead of holding them in the lobby (BleepingComputer, Windows Central). Microsoft's own docs don't describe it yet, so check your Teams meeting policies to see whether it's available in your tenant.

If the bot comes from your own users' accounts, the long-term fix is controlling which third-party apps they can connect. In Microsoft Entra you can set tenant-wide user consent to disallow user consent, allow it only for apps from verified publishers with selected low-impact permissions, or allow all. Changes apply only to future consent, and existing grants stay in place. Pair it with the admin consent workflow so users can request approval (Microsoft Learn: user consent, admin consent workflow).

Zoom

Zoom's guide to blocking bots (Zoom Support) lists:

• Meeting SDK block/allow list: allow or block specific Marketplace apps from joining your meetings.
• Web App bot protection: on for every account by default; can't be turned off.
• Require sign-in to join (optionally for the Web App only).
• Block specific domains from joining.
• Waiting room for guests, so the host reviews anyone who isn't signed in.
• Bot blocking dashboard showing which apps tried to join or were blocked.

Google Meet / Google Workspace

Workspace admins can block a third-party app's access to Google data, including Calendar. In the Google Admin console go to Menu → Security → Access and data control → API controls, click Manage App Access, point to the app and click Change access, pick the organizational units, click Next, choose Blocked, then Change access. You need the Service Settings administrator privilege (Google Workspace Help). Note that this stops your users connecting the tool. It won't stop a bot sent by an outside guest's account.

In a live Meet call, hosts can remove the bot from the participant list.

FAQ

I deleted my account and it still joins. Why? Usually another attendee has the tool. Fireflies and Read both say so in their docs. Check the bot's chat message or display name for whose notetaker it is.

Can I remove someone else's bot without an account? For Otter, Fireflies (chat command) and Read, yes: anyone in the meeting can do it. For tl;dv and Fathom you need permission to remove participants or admit people from the waiting room. Fathom's leave chat command only works for the bot's owner.

Will it still email everyone a summary? That depends on the owner's sharing settings. Fathom's is the "what's shared after the meeting" drop-down; set it to Nothing. Removing a Fireflies bot in the first 3 minutes means no notes are created. Read's Opt Out deletes that session's data.

Is there a notetaker that doesn't join as a bot at all? Yes. Several record from your own computer's audio instead. See our bot-free notetaker comparison. Bot-free still means recording, so tell people and follow your local consent rules.