Comments sections on YouTube videos can sometimes get out of hand and become a haven for spam, harassment, and toxicity. As a content creator, you may decide you want to disable comments on some or all of your YouTube videos. Here’s a detailed guide on how to do that.
Table of Contents
Why Disable Comments on YouTube Videos?
There are a few key reasons you may want to disable comments on your YouTube videos:
- To avoid negativity and harassment. Disabling comments can help prevent trolls and bullies from attacking you or other viewers. This helps keep the discussion civil.
- To reduce spam. Spam comments can overwhelm real discussion and make the comments section messy. Turning off comments prevents spam bots from bombarding your videos.
- To comply with COPPA. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires that comments be disabled on videos marked as “made for kids”.
- To manage workload. Reading and responding to comments takes a lot of time and effort. Disabling them can reduce the workload for creators.
So in summary, disabling comments helps creators maintain a positive environment, reduce noise, comply with regulations, and manage their time effectively.
How to Disable Comments at the Channel Level
If you want to disable comments across your entire YouTube channel, follow these steps:
- Go to YouTube Studio and click on Settings from the left sidebar.
- Select Community.
- Under Comments and posts, choose Disable comments for the Comments on your channel option.
- Click SAVE to apply the settings.
This will disable comments on all current and future videos. Existing comments will remain visible.
How to Disable Comments on Individual YouTube Videos
To disable comments on only certain videos rather than your whole channel:
- Go to YouTube Studio and open the video you want to update.
- Scroll down and click SHOW MORE.
- Under Comments and ratings, select Disable comments.
- Click SAVE to apply the changes.
Repeat this for any other videos you want to disable comments on.
Other YouTube Comment Moderation Options
If completely disabling comments seems too extreme, YouTube offers intermediate moderation options:
- Hold potentially inappropriate comments for review: This puts comments into a pending queue to be checked before publishing.
- Hold all comments for review: Every comment must be manually approved before appearing below your videos.
- Limit comments posting: Only allow comments from a custom list of approved YouTube channels and users.
These options add a layer of human moderation without fully disabling comments. Creators can review comments and only allow non-toxic discussions to appear.
Re-Enabling Comments on YouTube Videos
If you ever want to start accepting comments again on a video, just:
- Go back into YouTube Studio and open the video.
- Under Comments and ratings, choose Allow all comments instead of Disable comments.
The comments section will now be reactivated.
Conclusion
Keeping your YouTube channel and videos positive and constructive sometimes requires disabling comments. This prevents spam and harassment while letting creators focus on producing great content rather than moderating discussions.
Carefully consider whether fully disabling comments is necessary or if intermediate moderation options give enough control. You can always re-enable comments later on.
Disabling YouTube comments is easy to do at both the channel and individual video level. Just access the video settings within YouTube Studio to turn comments off or on.
