What restriction exists for Customer Community Licenses regarding role-based sharing?

Customer Community Licenses are designed to provide external users access to certain features and records within Salesforce, but they come with specific limitations. One important restriction associated with these licenses is that they cannot leverage role-based sharing. This means that, unlike internal users who can gain access to records based on their assigned roles and the hierarchical structure of those roles, users with Customer Community Licenses do not benefit from this mechanism for sharing records.

This limitation is significant because it affects how information is shared and accessed within the community. Without role-based sharing, customer community users must rely on explicit sharing rules, groups, or direct permissions assigned to their accounts. This restriction ensures a more controlled sharing environment, given the external nature of these users, while also simplifying the overall governance of data access in the organization.

Understanding this limitation is crucial for anyone managing or designing community experiences, as it directly impacts how to configure access and sharing settings within the Customer Community setup.