Duplicate Entity Management Permission
Access to the Manage Record Duplicates page is controlled by the Duplicate Entity Management permission. To allow users to see duplicates but not merge records, you can give users View level access for the permission.
To prevent a role from merging records:
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Go to Setup > Users/Roles > Manage Roles.
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Click Customize or Edit for the role.
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On the Permissions subtab, click Lists.
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Add the Duplicate Entity Management permission to the role.
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To hide the Merge button from users with this role, in the Level column, select View.
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Click Save.