Title: is_user_spammy
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: May 20, 2026

---

# is_user_spammy( string|WP_User $user = null ): bool

## In this article

 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_user_spammy/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_user_spammy/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_user_spammy/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_user_spammy/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_user_spammy/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_user_spammy/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Determines whether a user is marked as a spammer, based on user login.

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_user_spammy/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$user`string|[WP_User](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user/)
optional

Defaults to current user. [WP_User](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user/)
object, or user login name as a string.

Default:`null`

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_user_spammy/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 bool

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_user_spammy/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    function is_user_spammy( $user = null ) {
    	if ( ! ( $user instanceof WP_User ) ) {
    		if ( $user ) {
    			$user = get_user_by( 'login', $user );
    		} else {
    			$user = wp_get_current_user();
    		}
    	}

    	return $user && isset( $user->spam ) && '1' === $user->spam;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/ms-functions.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.0/src/wp-includes/ms-functions.php#L2348)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.0/src/wp-includes/ms-functions.php#L2348-L2358)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_user_spammy/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [get_user_by()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_user_by/)`wp-includes/pluggable.php` |

Retrieves user info by a given field.

  | 
| [wp_get_current_user()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_current_user/)`wp-includes/pluggable.php` |

Retrieves the current user object.

  |

| Used by | Description | 
| [wp_is_password_reset_allowed_for_user()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_is_password_reset_allowed_for_user/)`wp-includes/user.php` |

Checks if password reset is allowed for a specific user.

  | 
| [wp_authenticate_spam_check()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_authenticate_spam_check/)`wp-includes/user.php` |

For Multisite blogs, checks if the authenticated user has been marked as a spammer, or if the user’s primary blog has been marked as spam.

  |

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_user_spammy/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [MU (3.0.0)](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/mu.3.0.0/) | Introduced. |

## User Contributed Notes

You must [log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fdeveloper.wordpress.org%2Freference%2Ffunctions%2Fis_user_spammy%2F)
before being able to contribute a note or feedback.