As a Twitch streamer or moderator, keeping your chat clean and free of inappropriate messages is crucial for maintaining a positive community. While you can ban or timeout users who repeatedly post unwanted content, sometimes you just want to remove a single inappropriate message.
Fortunately, Twitch now allows moderators to delete individual chat messages. This guide will teach you how to enable and use this feature to selectively remove messages from your Twitch chat.
Table of Contents
Enabling the Delete Message Feature
Before moderators can delete single Twitch chat messages, the broadcaster needs to enable an option called “Mod Icons.” Here’s how:
- Click the settings icon in the bottom left corner of the chat box.
- Under the “My Preferences” section, check the box next to “Show Mod Icons.”
Once enabled, mod icons will appear next to each username in chat, giving moderators quick access to mod tools like timeout, ban, and delete message.
Deleting a Single Twitch Chat Message
With mod icons enabled, deleting a single chat message is simple:
- Hover over the message you want to delete.
- Click the trash can icon next to the username.
The message will instantly disappear from the chat. An alert saying “The message from [user] has been deleted” will display briefly.
If you want to view a deleted message, click “” in the alert. Other users in chat won’t see deleted messages.
Alternative Ways to Remove Messages
In addition to deleting single messages, moderators have a few other tools to remove unwanted content:
- Timeout: Temporarily bans a user for a custom duration (e.g. 60 seconds), deleting all their recent messages.
- Ban: Permanently bans a user from chatting. Also removes all their previous messages.
- Clear Chat: Deletes all chat messages. Good for removing raid spam.
- Chat Delay: Delays chat messages for 2-6 seconds so mods can screen them.
The timeout feature in particular is useful for quickly deleting a user’s last message without affecting their chat privileges long-term.
Extra Twitch Chat Moderation Tips
Here are some extra tips for managing your Twitch chat effectively:
- Set Clear Rules: Establish clear guidelines on what chat behavior you allow/disallow.
- Mod a Trusted Team: Appoint mature, responsible moderators to help out.
- Use AutoMod: Filters chat based on banned words/phrases you specify.
- Mod View: Customizable interface to help mods monitor chat.
- Report Users: Report TOS violations like hate speech directly to Twitch.
Taking the time to properly configure your channel’s AutoMod filters and assemble a great mod squad will make keeping chat clean much easier.
Can Viewers See Deleted Messages?
When a Twitch chat message gets deleted, the original user will see an alert that their message was removed. However, normal viewers cannot view deleted messages.
The chat displays a “” placeholder instead. Clicking this placeholder as a mod lets you view the deleted content. So no, regular viewers and chat users cannot retrieve removed messages.
Removing Messages Before They Appear
With tools like AutoMod and chat delay enabled, inappropriate messages can be screened before your viewers ever see them.
Mods can silently remove unwanted content without cluttering up chat. The chat delay feature is especially useful, since it buys mods extra time to delete messages.
Conclusion
Keeping your Twitch chat engaging but positive is crucial for building a strong community. Selectively deleting single messages is now easier than ever for moderators.
By fully utilizing all of Twitch’s built-in moderation tools and appointing a great mod team, you can maintain a welcoming chat environment for your viewers.
The ability to surgically eliminate inappropriate chat messages will help your channel’s community flourish.
