Why Can't I Comment on YouTube?

The message under the video tells you which cause you're dealing with. One of them is a legal rule the channel owner can't switch off, and it's the one people blame on everything else.

Updated September 2026

What each message means

Match what you see to the cause:

• Comments are turned off: the creator turned comments off for the video, or the video is set as made for kids. There's nothing a viewer can do.
• Comments are paused, or old comments visible but no box: the creator paused comments, which keeps existing ones but stops new ones.
• Only subscribers or members can comment: the creator limited comments. Subscribing, sometimes for a minimum period, or joining as a member opens the box.
• Restricted Mode has hidden comments for this video: Restricted Mode is on for your account, browser or network.
• No comment box and a prompt to create a channel: you need a YouTube channel on your account to post.
• The box works, but your comment never appears to others: the channel holds comments for review, or has hidden your account.

Why are all my YouTube comments turned off?

If you're the creator and comments are off on every video, check these in order:

• Your channel's audience setting. If the channel is set as made for kids, every video inherits it and comments are disabled everywhere. It's in YouTube Studio under Settings, then Channel, then Advanced settings.
• Your default comment setting. Under Settings, then Community, then Defaults, new uploads may be set to Off or to Hold all comments.
• Videos featuring minors. YouTube disables comments on many videos that feature young children, a policy it introduced in 2019 to protect them, even when the channel isn't set as made for kids.
• A setting on specific videos, changed in bulk from the Content page at some point and forgotten.

How to turn on comments on YouTube

In YouTube Studio, open Content, click the video, and under the details open Show more. Find Comments and ratings and set comments to On, with a moderation level: none, basic, strict or hold all for review. For all future uploads, set the same thing under Settings, then Community, then Defaults. If the video is made for kids, the option is unavailable until the audience setting changes, and that setting should only change if the video genuinely isn't directed at children.

Why can't I comment on YouTube when comments are on?

If other people are clearly commenting and you can't, the problem is on your side. The usual causes:

• No channel. YouTube requires a channel, with a name and handle, to post a comment. Signing in to a Google account isn't enough; follow the prompt to create one.
• Restricted Mode. It hides comments entirely. Turn it off from your profile menu on a computer, or in Settings in the app. If the toggle is locked, your school, workplace or network administrator set it.
• A supervised account. Accounts in YouTube's supervised experience for children, and YouTube Kids, don't allow commenting.
• The channel hid your account. Your comments then post but are invisible to everyone else on that channel's videos.
• A browser extension or ad blocker interfering with the page. Try a private window with extensions off.

How to comment on YouTube

Open the video, scroll to the comments below it on a computer or tap the comments panel under the video in the app, click Add a comment, write, and press Comment. Replies work the same way on an existing comment. Comments must follow YouTube's Community Guidelines; spam, repeated identical comments and comments with suspicious links are frequently held or removed automatically, which is the most common reason a comment seems to vanish right after posting. To find everything you've written, see your YouTube comments explains where the history lives.

How to unblock someone on YouTube comments

If you're the creator and you hid a user by mistake, their comments are invisible on all your videos. To undo it:

• Open YouTube Studio and go to Settings.
• Choose Community, then Automated filters.
• Find the Hidden users list and remove the person.
• Save. Their future comments will appear normally; review held comments in Studio if you want to approve any they wrote in the meantime.

Why do my comments keep getting held for review?

From the viewer's side, the usual triggers are a link, a word on the channel's blocked list, or a comment YouTube's systems rate as potentially inappropriate when the channel uses a strict setting. Held comments sit in the owner's Studio for up to 60 days and aren't public unless approved. YouTube doesn't notify you. Rewriting without the link is the most reliable fix.

What a closed comment section costs a channel

Comments are part of how a video reads to a stranger. A video with an active section looks watched by people who cared enough to reply; one with comments off looks either protected or abandoned, and visitors can't tell which. For channels that aren't made for kids, leaving comments on with a moderation level usually works better than turning them off, since the held queue catches most of what you don't want. YouTube engagement rate shows how comments count alongside likes and views.

On a new upload, the first comments set the tone for the ones that follow, and an empty section is the hardest to start. That's the gap creators fill with YouTube comments on a fresh video, alongside YouTube likes for the vote under the player. Neither applies to made for kids videos, where there's no section to add to, and neither overrides a channel's moderation settings. Every YouTube service is on the YouTube page. Made for kids videos can still earn from ads, but only non-personalized ones, a point worth weighing next to YouTube's monetization requirements if the channel is working toward the Partner Program.

Questions people ask about commenting on YouTube