If you want to disable comments on your YouTube videos, we’re going to show you how—retroactively, on all future videos, and on YouTube live streams too.
Why You Should Disable YouTube Comments
Before you go ahead and disable comments on your YouTube videos, consider whether it’s the right move for your channel.
YouTube’s comments are a great way to connect with your viewers and get feedback on what you’re publishing. Though you can pursue other avenues to solicit feedback, like social media, nothing is as direct and easy as leaving a comment directly beneath the video. If you’re growing your channel, oftentimes that connection is vital.
Then again, YouTube comments are a breeding ground for trolls and bots, and this can reflect badly on your channel. Though you can moderate YouTube comments in YouTube Studio or pin interesting messages to the top, it quickly becomes time-consuming, and you might decide it’s not worth your while. Disabling comments is a quick and effective method to shut it all out.
How to Disable Comments on Your Existing YouTube Videos
If you’ve already published YouTube videos with comments, you can disable comments on as many of these as you wish in bulk.
If the video received comments, removing the comment functionality won’t permanently delete them. This means that you can enable comments in the future and the old comments will reappear.
To disable comments on your existing YouTube videos:
Click your channel icon in the top-right corner. Select YouTube Studio. From the left-hand menu, select Content. To the left of each video, check those you wish to edit. Alternatively, place a check in the top row (next to the Video header) to select all. From the menu that appears above the table, click the Edit dropdown. Select Comments. On the New value dropdown, select Disable comments. Click Update videos.
This process might take a while, depending on how many videos you’re editing. Wait until you’re told that you can navigate away from the page.
How to Disable Comments on Your New YouTube Videos
For all videos that you publish in the future, you can change the default comment setting so that comments are disabled. You can always enable comments on these videos at a later date if you want, but changing the default will mean that you don’t have to adjust the setting for each video manually.
To disable comments on your new YouTube videos by default:
Click your channel icon in the top-right corner. Select YouTube Studio. From the left-hand menu, select Settings. In the modal that opens, from the left-hand menu, select Community. Switch to the Default tab. Use the Comments on your new videos dropdown and set it to Disable comments. Click Save.
How to Disable Comments on Your YouTube Live Stream
A YouTube live stream is a great way to interact with your audience. To help this two-way communication, YouTube provides a live chat functionality that appears alongside your streams. Users can comment in real-time with you and others, which helps build a sense of community.
However, it’s understandable that you might want to turn this off. It can be distracting. It’s also tricky to moderate, especially if many people are chatting simultaneously.
When setting up your live stream, select Webcam from the left-hand navigation. If you haven’t already, give your stream a Title. Then, switch to the Customization tab.
Beneath the Live chat header, toggle off Live chat. This removes the live chat modal and means that no-one can message during your stream.
Alternatively, you may wish to keep the live chat enabled but control who can talk. For this, look beneath the Participant modes header. Here you can switch between Anyone (anyone signed in to a YouTube account) and Subscribers (someone who has followed your channel for a set amount of time).
You can return to this screen during your live stream and enable/disable the live chat, so don’t worry if you change your mind.
Other Factors That Disable Your YouTube Comments
There are a handful of reasons why comments on your YouTube videos can be disabled, even without you specifically choosing it.
The most common reason is that your channel or your videos are tagged as “Made for Kids”. To comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), YouTube disables comments on all videos intended for children (either because they’re the primary audience, or the themes of the video appeal to them).
To control this setting, go to YouTube Studio and select Settings > Channel > Advanced settings. This applies the setting at a channel level. Even if you turn this off, you can still enable it on a per-video basis.
Similarly, YouTube may disable comments on your video if it features children but doesn’t violate the platform’s policies. If this applies to your video, you can’t re-enable comments for it.
You also won’t see comments on your YouTube videos if you’re browsing YouTube in Restricted Mode. Disable this via your profile picture > Restricted Mode > Off. Relatedly, if your YouTube account is a supervised account (i.e., controlled by a parent/guardian), you cannot enable comments.
Additionally, if any of your videos are automatically generated Art Tracks (a song without a music video), these don’t support comments.
Finally, YouTube disables comments on all of your private videos. To change the privacy of your video, go to YouTube Studio, select Content, and use the Visibility dropdown to select either Unlisted or Public.
Enjoy Commenting on Other YouTube Videos
Now you know how to disable comments on your YouTube videos. Don’t forget, this doesn’t have to be a permanent change. If you decide you want comments back on your videos, it’s only a few clicks away.
Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from commenting on other people’s videos, providing they too haven’t disabled them. So go forth into the world of YouTube and let your opinions be known.
