# I'd like to turn off federation

## Issue

* Need to turn off federation, which is on by default.

## Environment

* Element On-Premise Installer 

## Resolution

Add an empty ```federation_domain_whitelist```.  To do this, add the following in a .yml file in the Synapse config folder:

```
federation_domain_whitelist: []
```
See <https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/latest/usage/configuration/config_documentation.html?highlight=federation#federation> for further details.

N.B. we recommend also firewalling your federation listener to limit inbound federation traffic as early as possible, rather than relying purely on this application-layer restriction. If not specified, the default is to whitelist everything.

## Root Cause

Federation is on by default.