How to Block Someone on YouTube.

The short answer

To block someone on YouTube, tap or click their live chat message and choose Block, or block them from a mention notification. To stop them commenting on your channel instead, choose Hide from channel next to one of their comments. Hiding removes their comments and chat from your channel, and they are not told.

If you are working out how to block someone on YouTube for a brand channel, the second is usually the one you want. Blocking changes what you and the other person see of each other. Hiding changes what your audience sees of them on your channel, which is the problem a brand channel usually has.

For a team running a brand channel on YouTube, that makes it an Operations decision rather than a personal one: who hides, when, and who can undo it.

Blocking and hiding are different tools

YouTube describes the two like this:

• Blocking: you stop seeing their messages in live chat and in comments, and stop receiving their mentions. They stop seeing your messages in live chat and comments, and stop receiving your mentions.
• Hiding from your channel: their comments, live chat messages and community posts are not visible on your channel. They also cannot make clips of your videos and live streams.

The detail that decides it for a brand is this one. YouTube says that if you block someone and you are in YouTube Studio, you will still see their comments on your channel. Blocking is about your own view. Hiding is about your channel.

Why hiding is usually right for a brand channel

Three things make hiding the better default:

1. It covers the whole channel. YouTube says hidden users apply to all your videos and your channel homepage, so you do not chase someone video by video.
2. It reaches back. If you hide a user, YouTube says the comments they have already made will not show up on any of your videos.
3. It is quiet. YouTube says the person is not notified.

That last point matters for a brand. Hiding takes a difficult commenter out of your channel’s conversation without telling them, which gives them nothing to react to.

Step 1: hide someone from a comment

This is the quickest route, and it works from the comment itself:

1. Sign in to YouTube.
2. Find a comment they have left on your channel or one of your videos.
3. Next to the comment, select More, then Hide from channel.

Step 2: hide someone in YouTube Studio

Use this when you know who the person is but do not have a comment to hand:

1. Copy the person’s channel URL from their channel homepage.
2. Open YouTube Studio.
3. From the left menu, select Settings, then Community moderation, then User management.
4. Under Automated Filters, paste the channel URL into the Hidden users box.
5. Select Save.

If your channel has several managers, decide who is allowed to do this before anyone needs to. Settling who can moderate, and who checks, is the kind of question our workflow and operations consulting is built to answer.

Step 3: block someone in live chat

On a computer:

1. Click the person’s message, or its More menu.
2. Click Block.
3. When the pop-up appears, click Block again.

In the YouTube app on Android, iPhone or iPad, you need to be signed in. During the live stream, tap the person’s message, then tap Block.

YouTube also points out that creators and moderators can hide viewers by moderating live chat. For a brand stream, that is usually the better move, for the reasons above.

Step 4: block someone from a mention

In the YouTube app on Android, iPhone or iPad:

1. Sign in to the YouTube app.
2. Tap Notifications in the top right corner of the Home screen.
3. Tap Mentions.
4. Next to the mention from the person you want to block, tap More.
5. Tap Block this user.
6. When the pop-up appears, tap Block.

What blocking reaches beyond YouTube

YouTube says that when you block someone on YouTube, that person’s account is blocked in other Google products too.

For a personal account, that may be exactly what you want. For a channel run from a shared brand account, it is worth knowing before a community manager blocks someone in a hurry.

What hiding does not do

Hiding is broad, but YouTube sets out some limits:

• Past activity from the person’s associated accounts is not hidden.
• Past comments from hidden users will not show on your Comments page in YouTube Studio.
• Comments from hidden users do not show in YouTube Studio at all, so you cannot review them there.

The third point is the operational one. Once someone is hidden, your team stops seeing what they write. If you need a record of abuse for a report, capture it before you hide them.

How to find, unhide or unblock someone

To see who you have hidden:

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. Select Settings, then Community moderation, then User management.
3. Review the names in the Hidden users box under Automated Filters.

To unhide someone, find them in the Hidden users box, select Remove next to their name, then select Save. YouTube says this lets new comments they leave show again.

To unblock someone, go to the blocklist in your Google Account at myaccount.google.com/blocklist, then click or tap the icon next to the person.

What good looks like

A brand channel that handles this well has a short written rule, not a series of judgement calls made at midnight:

• Hide is the default for persistent abuse, spam and bad faith commenters.
• Block is reserved for direct harassment of a named team member.
• Anything that may need reporting is captured before anyone is hidden.
• The Hidden users list is reviewed on a set day each month.
• One named person owns the list, and everyone else knows who that is.

If moderation decisions are slowing your team down or landing on whoever happens to be online, that is a workflow problem rather than a YouTube one.

How NBK thinks about moderation

Moderation is part of the operating system behind a channel, not a reaction to a bad day. The tools YouTube gives you are good. The gap is usually who uses them, when, and whether anyone can see what was done.

A hidden users list nobody reviews becomes a list of decisions nobody remembers making.

Next step

Open YouTube Studio, check who is on your Hidden users list today, and write down who on your team is allowed to add to it. Put the rule next to your social media approval process so moderation runs on the same rhythm as publishing.