How To Block Someone On YouTube

YouTube is a platform where creators and viewers are interacting every single day. The arena for this interaction is mainly the comment section where users get to show support and share ideas with their favorite youtubers. 

However, sometimes things don’t work out for the best and some comments can become a real headache. Spam, violent, or disrespectful comments can disrupt a creator’s peace or brand identity. In 2024, YouTube removed almost 1.37 billion comments that violate their community guidelines in order to honor the platform’s commitment to maintain a respectful environment. 

Comments are an inevitable part of YouTube. As a creator, you can receive amazing feedback and ideas that make the interaction space worthwhile. But at the same time, there are comments you'd probably rather never see.

Although YouTube does not have a button that lets you block someone from visiting your videos, you can hide bad comments from certain users so they no longer appear on your channel. Unlike platforms like Instagram, where blocking someone means they can no longer find your profile or interact with you at all, YouTube only allows you to hide their comments, meaning they can still watch your videos but won’t be able to engage with you publicly. How? Just go to any comment or the user’s channel and select the option “Hide user from channel.”

Let’s dive into details so you can keep your online space safe! 

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How to Block Someone on YouTube

If you are getting bad comments or someone is consistently talking bad about you and your content in your comment section, here's what you can do to keep them from interacting with you and your channel. 

YouTube does not have the right feature to fully block someone, but you can hide your channel from them. There are two methods you can use: 

1. Blocking From a Comment 
2. Blocking From Their Channel

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Blocking From a Comment

In this case, you are going to find the comment that is bothering you and block that user from there. 

How to Block Someone From a Comment On Desktop / Web

Step 1: Find The Comment

Go through your comment section and find the one comment that you want to block. 

Step 2: Block The User

Click on the three dots next to the comment and select “Hide user from channel”.  Click on “Confirm the action”. 

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How to Block Someone From a Comment On The App (iOS / Android) 

Step 1: Find The Comment

Scroll through your comment section and find the one comment that you want to block. 

Step 2: Block The User

Tap on the three dots next to the comment and select “Hide user from channel”.  Tap on “Confirm the action”.

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Blocking From Their Channel

In this case, you are going to find the user that is bothering you and go directly to their channel to block that user from there. 

‍How to Block Someone From Their Channel On Desktop / Web

Step 1: Search For The User’s Channel

Go through your comment section and find the one comment that you want to block. Go to their profile picture and click on it so it will take you to their channel page. 

Step 2: Block The Channel

Click on the three dots menu, usually on the right corner. Select the “Block user” option. Click on “Confirm the action” 

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How to Block Someone From a Comment On The App (iOS / Android) 

Step 1: Search For The User’s Channel

Scroll through your comment section and find the one comment that you want to block. Go to their profile picture and tap on it so it will take you to their channel page. 

Step 2: Block The Channel

Tap on the three dots menu, usually on the right corner. Select the “Block user” option. Tap on “Confirm the action”.

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Why Would You Need to Block Someone?

YouTube encourages conversation between creators and viewers. However sometimes a youtuber may decide to block someone if they are disrupting the positive environment around their community. 

Here are the most common reasons to block or hide someone on YouTube:

1. Offensive Comments

When some user keeps making racist, sexist, homophobic, discriminatory or violent comments in any way, blocking is the right way to go to protect both your community and mental health. 

2. Harassment or Bullying

When someone is personally attacking you or any of your other viewers with insults and repeated negative comments, don’t engage with them and block them to prevent any further damage. 

3. Spam 

Sometimes users fill the comments section with irrelevant links, promotional messages, or repetitive content that adds no value to your community. Blocking spam accounts helps keep the focus on meaningful discussions.

4. Threatening Messages

Comments that promote violence, threaten people, or share dangerous rhetoric should be taken seriously. Blocking these users helps protect your audience and maintain a safe environment.

5. Trolling 

Trolls are the ones who maliciously comment to make conflict on the comment section. Blocking them will help you keep your community at peace. 

6. Disrespect Towards Your Content

Constructive criticism is welcome. But users who consistently discredit your videos hurting your channel’s vibe may deserve a block.

7. Disrupting Live Streams

During live sessions, getting bad comments all the time can be really distracting and negatively affect your content. Block this kind of users so you can keep your focus on creating high quality live content. 

8. Protecting Your Brand Image

If you’re building a brand or business on YouTube, keeping a clean, respectful, and professional space is key. Blocking toxic users helps uphold your brand’s values.

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What Happens When You Block Someone on YouTube

Once you complete these steps, you’ve successfully blocked someone on YouTube. But remember that blocking someone on YouTube is different from Instagram where blocking means removing all access to your profile. On YouTube the option you have is to hide someone. What does hiding someone on YouTube mean? The user you’ve blocked is still going to be able to watch your videos and comment on them but nobody else is going to be able to see it, in other words, they won’t be able to interact with you publicly. 

As YouTube is an open website you can’t really stop someone from watching your videos but you can block their comments from showing up. The best part is that the user you’ve blocked won’t even know because comments are going to still be visible, but just for them. 

This method keeps conflict from escalating. The blocked user is going to keep commenting as nothing happened and since they don’t receive any notification saying they’ve been blocked, they usually don’t realize unless they notice a lack of interaction. It will appear as if they can keep commenting, but the reality is they can’t. 

What happens to the previous comments before blocking your channel from someone? The past comments are going to be deleted within 48 hours. Until then, the comments are still going to be visible for anyone. If you want to up speed the process, you can remove the comments manually. 

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How To Remove Past Bad Comments 

This works for the mobile and desktop versions of YouTube. In order to remove an undesired comment from your video, follow these simple steps. 

Step 1: Find The Comment

Go through your comment section and find the one comment that you want to delete.

Step 2: Remove The Comment

Go to the three dots next to the comment and select “Remove”. This will automatically delete the comment and it will no longer appear in our comment section. 

Blocking on YouTube is more about managing interactions and comments rather than restricting access to your publicly shared content. Anytime you block someone you make sure that they: 

• No longer can comment on your videos (only for themselves).
• Won't be notified that they've been blocked.
• They can still watch your videos, but they can't engage with you.

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How to Block Someone From Your Live Sessions

Getting spam or negative comments during a live session not only can be as frustrating as getting them on your previously recorded and uploaded videos but also more disturbing as you are creating content on the go. 

If you have a user that consistently leaves bad comments, you can block them just as we discussed before. Blocking someone on YouTube also prevents them from commenting on your live sessions. 

There’s also an extra step you can take in order to prevent certain types of comments once you are livestreaming on the platform. How? You can create a list of blocked words that will automatically filter messages and comments before they appear.

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Step 1: Go To YouTube Studio

Log into your YouTube Account and access your YouTube Studio. 

Step 2: Manage Your Settings

Go to the “Settings” option and find the “Community” tab. 

Step 3: Create Your List Of Block Words

Scroll down until you find the “Block Words” field. Enter words or phrases you want to automatically filter from both live chat and video comments. Click “Save” to successfully apply your changes. 

If you already blocked some users and created your list of block words and yet someone manages to get around them and leave a bad comment or spam during a live session, you can also remove them from the chat right at the moment. 

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How To Remove Someone During Live Streams

Step 1: Go to Your Live Chat

Open your live stream and find in the live chat the user message that bothers you and want to delete and / or  prevent it from happening in the future. 

Step 2: Timeout

Tap on their username or click the three dots next to their message, depending if you are using the web or app version. You then can select the “Timeout user for 5 minutes” option in order to temporarily remove this user. 

Step 3: Hide User From Channel

If the user keeps making bad comments or you just want to make sure it doesn't bother anymore, instead of removing them temporarily, select the “Hide user from channel” option which will block them from commenting in all your future live streams. 

These are other options you have as a youtuber to hold more control over your comment section during live events so you don’t get distracted and keep producing high quality content for your loyal viewers. 

If you want to learn more about Live Streaming On YouTube, check our article on How Much Does YouTube Pay For Live Streaming!

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Managing Blocked Users From YouTube Studio

Having a nice community on YouTube is really important. Once you manage to build your own, you don’t want anyone disturbing your creative space or your viewer’s experience. 

Whenever someone is threatening your channel's peace and comfort space, you can always block individual users to create the kind comment section you deserve. You can then access this list on your YouTube Studio. 

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See and Manage Blocked Users

You can access your list of block users to update it or make any change you want. You just need to hit the “Settings” option, then select “Community” and under “Hidden Users” you’ll be able to see a whole list of accounts you’ve blocked in the past. From here, you can unblock users if you change your mind.

Besides blocking users, YouTube also offers different moderation tools to keep your community safe.

• Blocked Words: You can create a list of words or phrases you don't want appearing in your comments. If one of these words appears in someone’s comment, it will automatically be held for review or hidden.

• Hold Comments for Review: YouTube can automatically hold potentially inappropriate comments that don’t align with their Community Guidelines so you can approve them manually. 

• Assign Moderators: If you stream live or have an active community, you can assign trusted people as moderators to manage chat and comments in real-time.

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Final Thoughts On How To Block Someone On YouTube

Interactions between creator and viewers are a key piece in the YouTube game. The comment section plays an important role as the place where youtubers can get access to their audience feedback, ideas, questions and more. 

Keeping your channel safe it’s not only something you want to do to avoid bad comments about your person or ideas but also to create a better experience for your community. And whenever someone threatens that experience is always ok to block them or use any moderation tool available to safeguard your content. 

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Looking for Other Articles On YouTube?

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• How To Record On YouTube Video
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• How Much Does YouTube Pay For 1,000 Views - A Creator’s Guide
• Best Time To Post On YouTube 

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