diff --git a/src/privileges/admin.js b/src/privileges/admin.js
index a242405ec0b0..aff1208248cc 100644
--- a/src/privileges/admin.js
+++ b/src/privileges/admin.js
@@ -79,7 +79,6 @@ module.exports = function (privileges) {
 		'admin.user.deleteUsers': 'admin:users',
 		'admin.user.deleteUsersAndContent': 'admin:users',
 		'admin.user.createUser': 'admin:users',
-		'admin.user.search': 'admin:users',
 		'admin.user.invite': 'admin:users',
 
 		'admin.getSearchDict': 'admin:settings',
diff --git a/src/socket.io/admin/user.js b/src/socket.io/admin/user.js
index 3bd5f999dce6..c63032273f2e 100644
--- a/src/socket.io/admin/user.js
+++ b/src/socket.io/admin/user.js
@@ -186,32 +186,6 @@ async function deleteUsers(socket, uids, method) {
 	}
 }
 
-User.search = async function (socket, data) {
-	// TODO: deprecate
-	const searchData = await user.search({
-		query: data.query,
-		searchBy: data.searchBy,
-		uid: socket.uid,
-	});
-
-	if (!searchData.users.length) {
-		return searchData;
-	}
-
-	const uids = searchData.users.map(user => user && user.uid);
-	const userInfo = await user.getUsersFields(uids, ['email', 'flags', 'lastonline', 'joindate']);
-
-	searchData.users.forEach(function (user, index) {
-		if (user && userInfo[index]) {
-			user.email = userInfo[index].email;
-			user.flags = userInfo[index].flags || 0;
-			user.lastonlineISO = userInfo[index].lastonlineISO;
-			user.joindateISO = userInfo[index].joindateISO;
-		}
-	});
-	return searchData;
-};
-
 User.restartJobs = async function () {
 	user.startJobs();
 };
diff --git a/test/socket.io.js b/test/socket.io.js
index c42e5a863c01..8093f242c2d3 100644
--- a/test/socket.io.js
+++ b/test/socket.io.js
@@ -277,15 +277,6 @@ describe('socket.io', function () {
 		});
 	});
 
-	it('should search users', function (done) {
-		socketAdmin.user.search({ uid: adminUid }, { query: 'reg', searchBy: 'username' }, function (err, data) {
-			assert.ifError(err);
-			assert.equal(data.matchCount, 1);
-			assert.equal(data.users[0].username, 'regular');
-			done();
-		});
-	});
-
 	it('should push unread notifications on reconnect', function (done) {
 		var socketMeta = require('../src/socket.io/meta');
 		socketMeta.reconnected({ uid: 1 }, {}, function (err) {