---
title: "Remove contacts from an audience in bulk"
description: "Takes up to 200 contacts out of one audience in one call, by address. Every one of them stays in the address book, in the default audience and in every other audience it was in."
url: "https://openemail.uk/docs/api/audiences/remove-batch"
area: "API"
category: "Mailbox"
---

# Remove contacts from an audience in bulk

Takes up to 200 contacts out of one audience in one call, by address. Every one of them stays in the address book, in the default audience and in every other audience it was in.

`POST /audiences/{id}/contacts/batch-remove`

## POST /audiences/{id}/contacts/batch-remove

Takes up to 200 contacts out of one audience in one call, by address. Every one of them stays in the address book, in the default audience and in every other audience it was in.

## Example

Needs `audiences:write`. The body has the same shape as the bulk add: `emails` with 1 to 200 addresses.

**curl**

```
curl -X POST "$OE/audiences/aud_4c1b8e2a7d9f05c36b4e8a71/contacts/batch-remove" -H "$AUTH" -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{
  "emails": ["grace@example.com", "linus@example.com", "alan@example.com"]
}'
```

**Response**

```
{
  "object": "audience_batch",
  "audienceId": "aud_4c1b8e2a7d9f05c36b4e8a71",
  "removed": 1,
  "notInAudience": ["linus@example.com"],
  "missing": ["alan@example.com"]
}
```

> `removed` counts the memberships taken away, `notInAudience` lists the contacts that were not in this audience, and `missing` lists the addresses that are not contacts at all. Nothing happens to either list, so the call is safe to replay.

> The built-in default audience cannot be thinned. The call is refused with `409` `audience_immutable` and nothing is removed. Delete a contact when you mean it to go.