Create Site Permissions to Restricted Read users

Question

I have give all users of my tenant "Restricted Read" permissions on the root site collection so that they cannot create site collections and sub-sites in the tenant. When any such user logs into the sharepoint site, s/he cannot see the SharePoint link in the top bar that navigates to SharePoint page.

However when the user types in the browser window the direct URL:

https://mytenant.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/SharePoint.aspx

s/he can navigate to the page and can see the "Create Site" link at the top. Although s/he cannot create a site, but can still see the option. Am I missing adding/removing any specific permission or this is an expected bahvior?

Answer 1

Yes you are correct that with even 'Read' permissions users are able to create a new site from this https://tenant.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/sharepoint.aspx page. You can switch this off from SharePoint Admin under Settings. More details here. I agree it is bit strange behaviour as you probably have noticed that Microsoft has their own of thinking. Consider it a feature!

If you want to remove SharePoint button:

If you only want to remove the 'Create Site' link then: