When you go live on YouTube, you can connect with your audience in real time. Live chat appears on the right side of your stream when you’re on a desktop, or under the chat icon when using a mobile device. This feature allows you to see how your viewers are reacting to your live stream.
However, without proper moderation, live chat can quickly become chaotic, filled with spam links, offensive language, or even targeted harassment. Moderating your live chat helps create a welcoming and positive environment for all viewers. In this post, we’ll delve into how to moderate YouTube live chat effectively, before, during, and after your live stream.
Moderate YouTube Live Chat Before Live Stream
The following are some of the important moderation tools you can set up before your live stream:
#Subscriber-only live chat
You can set the live chat feature available only to your subscribers. Here’s how to turn it on:
1. Go to YouTube Studio, click Create > Go live > Stream.
2. Click Edit from your live stream and select Customization.
3. Under Participant modes, select Subscribers.
4. Click on Save.
If you turn on subscriber-only live chat, your viewers will get notified.
#Member-only live chat
You can host the live chat exclusively for your members.
1. Go to YouTube Studio, click Create > Go live > Stream.
2. Create a new stream or copy a previous stream.
3. Click on Edit from the top right.
4. Select Enable members-only chat under Live chat.
5. Click Save.
#Block messages containing certain words
You can create a list of blocked words in YouTube Studio to block live chat messages that contain or closely match certain words.
1. Navigate to YouTube Studio.
2. Select Settings from the left panel and choose Community moderation.
3. Enter a list of words within the Blocked words box under Automated Filters.
4. Click on Save.
#Hold potentially inappropriate live chat messages for review
YouTube allows you to hold potentially inappropriate live chat messages for review. If you enable it, YouTube will identify live messages, and inappropriate messages will be held for review in the chat feed. You can decide whether to show or hide them.
1. Go to YouTube Studio, select Settings > Community moderation > Defaults.
2. Under Messages in your live chat, select Basic. This will hold potentially inappropriate messages.
3. Click Save.
#Slow mode
Slow mode enables you to limit the comment frequency of each user by setting a time limit between comments.
1. Create a live stream in YouTube Studio.
2. Click Edit > Customization.
3. Check Slow mode under Message delay and enter the number.
4. Save the change.
Moderate YouTube Live Chat During Live Stream
During your live stream, you can moderate live chat on YouTube in the following ways:
#Manage moderation activity in live chat feed
You can turn the moderation activity on in the live chat feed. The default setting for live chat moderation is off. To do this, click the three-dot icon in your live chat feed, click More > Toggle moderation activity.
#Access Channel Activity from live chat feed
You can access the public user history by clicking Channel Activity from the Menu in the live chat feed. It will show you the user’s profile picture, handle, YouTube join date, number of subscribers, and public live chat messages.
#Hide or show a viewer from live chat
If you find someone ignoring guidelines or warnings, or repeatedly sending inappropriate messages, you can hide them from appearing in the live stream. Their messages and comments will no longer be visible to other viewers. To hide a viewer from the live chat, find their message, click the More icon next to the message, and click Hide user.
Moderate YouTube Live Chat After Live Stream
#Live chat replay
After your live stream ends, the live chat replay is turned on by default and available on all archived streams. Here’s how to turn it off:
1. Go to YouTube Studio, click on Content > Live.
2. Select a video and click the Customization tab.
3. Uncheck the box next to Live chat replay.
#View or delete your Live chat history
You can view or delete your live chat messages you’ve participated in during live streams.
1. On the left of the YouTube interface, choose History under the You tab.
2. Click on Live chat on the right of the page.
3. Scroll down to find the live chat message you want to delete, hover over it, and click the × icon.
Final Words
Moderating YouTube live chat is key to keeping your streams engaging and friendly. Here, we’ve provided a complete tutorial on how to moderate YouTube live stream’s live chat. Hope you find this helpful!
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Lydia is always interested in new things and has been attracted deeply by writing. Her love for writing makes her become an English editor about multimedia in MiniTool. She’s determined to write articles about photos, audio, video, and other news to offer readers useful suggestions. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, reading, photography, and having fun with friends.