How to Clear Comments on TikTok Live

When you're live on TikTok, the last thing you want is a comment section filled with spam, trolls, or off-topic distractions. Managing your comments is essential for keeping your broadcast focused, positive, and engaging. This guide will walk you through every tool at your disposal, from quick fixes to proactive strategies, showing you exactly how to clear and control the conversation during your TikTok Live.

Why You Should Actively Manage Comments on Your TikTok Live

Before jumping into the "how," it's helpful to understand the "why." A well-managed comment section isn't just about deleting negative remarks, it's a core part of building a healthy community and running a successful live stream. When you take control of the conversation, you create a better experience for everyone, including yourself.

Here’s what you gain by managing comments effectively:

• Creates a Safe and Positive Environment: Your followers join your Live to connect with you. A stream of spam, hateful comments, or bullying can quickly turn a fun event into a negative space. By clearing out the noise, you signal to your audience that you value a respectful and positive atmosphere, making them more likely to stick around and participate.
• Keeps the Conversation On-Topic: Whether you’re hosting a Q&A, launching a product, or just chatting, you have a goal for your Live. Unrelated or distracting comments can derail the conversation and confuse viewers. Keeping the comments section clean helps everyone stay focused on the topic at hand.
• Reduces Distractions for You: Trying to host a broadcast while getting bombarded with irrelevant comments is draining. It’s hard to focus on your message when you’re constantly mentally filtering out negativity. A managed comment section allows you to relax and engage more authentically with the viewers who are genuinely interested.
• Protects Your Brand Reputation: For brands and professional creators, a TikTok Live is an extension of your image. A chaotic, unmoderated comment feed filled with spam and hate can appear unprofessional. Taking charge shows that you care about your community and the quality of your content.

Think of it like hosting a party. You wouldn't let a disruptive guest ruin the experience for everyone else. Your TikTok Live is your party, and you get to set the rules.

The Quick Fix: Turning Off Comments Temporarily

Sometimes you just need a moment of peace. If your comment section becomes completely unmanageable or if you’re presenting a specific segment that doesn’t require audience interaction, the fastest way to hit the reset button is to temporarily turn off all comments. This is a blunt tool, but it's incredibly effective when you need to regain control immediately.

How to Turn Off Comments During a Live

The process is simple and can be done in just a few taps without ending your stream.

1. While you are Live, look for the three-dot icon (...) at the bottom. A new menu will pop up allowing you to tap Settings.
2. In the Settings menu, you’ll see an option for Comment settings. Tap on it.
3. A toggle switch for Allow comments will be at the top. Simply tap this toggle to turn comments off. All existing comments will disappear from the screen, and no new comments can be posted.

When you’re ready to bring the conversation back, just follow the same steps to toggle comments back on. Viewers will be able to start chatting again immediately.

When should you use this?

• During a "Spam Attack": If bots or a coordinated group of users start flooding your chat, disabling comments for 30 seconds can stop them in their tracks.
• For Important Announcements: If you have a key message to deliver without interruption, you can turn off comments for that specific segment to make sure everyone's attention is on you.
• To Re-center the Mood: If the chat has gotten heated or negative, briefly turning off comments can work as a "cool down" period, letting you reset the vibe of the stream before re-opening the floor.

Heads Up: Turning off comments completely silences your audience, which can hurt real-time engagement. Use it strategically as a temporary solution, not a long-term strategy for every stream.

Proactive Control: Set Up Comment Filters Before Going Live

The best way to handle problematic comments is to prevent them from showing up in the first place. TikTok offers powerful filtering tools that let you automatically hide comments containing specific keywords. Setting this up a few minutes before you go Live can save you a massive headache later.

How to Set Up Keyword Filters

This is done in your main TikTok privacy settings, and the list you create applies to all your videos and Lives.

1. Go to your Profile page and tap the three-line menu (hamburger icon) in the top-right corner.
2. Select Settings and privacy.
3. Tap on Privacy.
4. Scroll down and select Comments.
5. Here, turn on the Filter keywords toggle. You can then add any words or phrases you want to automatically hide.

What Keywords Should You Filter?

Your filter list should be tailored to you and your audience, but here are some common categories to get you started:

• Common Spam: "follow me," "link in bio," "check my page," "free followers."
• Hate Speech &, Curses: Any slurs, derogatory terms, or common swear words you don't want on your page.
• Your Personal Information: Your city, address, phone number, personal email, or anything else you want to keep private.
• Competitor Names: If you’re a brand, you might want to prevent others from promoting competing products in your chat.
• Trigger words for your niche: Think about words that tend to spark heated or off-topic arguments within your community.

You can add up to 200 keywords to this list. When someone includes one of your filtered words in a comment, the comment will be hidden from everyone else, but the user who posted it might still see it on their end. It won't be visible to you or your other viewers.

The "Filter All Comments" Option

In the same "Comments" menu, you'll see an option called Filter all comments. If you turn this on, absolutely no comments will appear publicly unless you manually approve them.

This setting provides maximum control but can be very difficult to manage during a busy Live. You’d need a dedicated moderator just to keep up with approving benign comments like "hi" or smiley faces. This is best reserved for highly sensitive broadcasts or Lives where you have a team member specifically assigned to comment moderation.

In-the-Moment Actions: Mute or Block Disruptive Viewers

Sometimes, the issue isn't just one bad comment - it's a specific person who is consistently disruptive. In these cases, it's better to deal with the individual directly. During your Live, you have two options: muting and blocking.

How to Mute a Viewer

Muting is a temporary measure. It stops a viewer from being able to comment for the duration of your current Live stream, but it doesn't affect their ability to watch or to comment on future Lives or videos.

1. When you see a comment from the disruptive user, tap on their profile picture/username directly in the comment feed.
2. A small menu will pop up. Tap Manage.
3. You’ll see the option to Mute this viewer. Tap it. The user will be notified that they’ve been muted.

Muting is a great first step. It's like a soft warning that doesn’t permanently ban them from your community but gets them to quiet down for now.

How to Block a Viewer

Blocking is a more permanent solution. When you block someone, they are completely removed from your Live and will no longer be able to watch any of your content (past or future) or interact with your account in any way, unless you choose to unblock them later.

1. Follow the same initial steps: tap the user’s profile picture in the comments, then tap on Manage.
2. This time, select Block this Viewer. They will be immediately removed from the Live and won’t be able to rejoin or find your profile again.

Reserve blocking for the most serious offenders: repeat spammers, persistent trolls, and anyone creating a toxic or unsafe environment. There is no reason to give repeat offenders second chances to invade your space.

The Ultimate Strategy: Enlist Moderators to Help You

As your audience grows, trying to host, engage, and moderate all by yourself becomes nearly impossible. This is where moderators come in. A moderator is a trusted viewer you appoint to help manage your comments section. They have special powers to mute and block other users on your behalf, freeing you up to focus on your content and your genuine fans.

How to Add a Moderator

You need to assign moderators before you start your Live. You can’t add new ones while you are actively streaming.

1. Before starting your Live, on the "Go LIVE" screen, tap on Settings at the very bottom.
2. Tap on the Moderators link and add a trusted friend or superfan account to the mod list.

After the stream, a viewer might prove themselves especially helpful or kind. You can access all of the comments from each creator session to look for the right users to become potential moderators in the future. Once you have a small handful of trusted moderators, your TikTok Live community will be one of the safest spaces it can be.

Tips for Working With Moderators

• Choose Wisely: Pick people you trust to represent your community well. This could be a longtime follower, a friend, or a team member. Avoid picking random people or anyone you've never personally interacted with.
• Set Clear Rules: Tell your mods your rules for the chatroom. What words can be deleted? When should they mute, and when should they block? When should they warn a user, and when should they implement an immediate block for the well-being of the chat?
• Acknowledge Their Hard Work: Being a moderator requires effort, and it's volunteer work most of the time. Make sure you give vocal shout-outs to your mods on stream, as they are putting in hours of hard work. And if you can afford it, you should always find a way to monetarily reward your top moderators.

Appointing moderators is the single most effective step you can take in managing your online TikTok Live community. And it's almost completely passive, so you can go back to just being the greatest Live Stream host you can be.

Final Thoughts

Controlling the comments on your TikTok Live is entirely within your reach. By combining proactive measures like filtering keywords and appointing moderators, along with in-the-moment actions like muting or temporarily turning off comments, you can cultivate a community that is safe, on-topic, and fun. It's about finding the right balance that allows your true fans to connect while keeping distractions at bay.

Managing your community during a Live is intense, and the conversation doesn't stop when the stream ends. Followers will continue to leave comments on your posts and send you DMs across TikTok, Instagram, and your other platforms. At Postbase, we faced this same fragmentation and built a unified inbox to handle it. Our tool brings all your comments and DMs from every platform into one clean feed, so you can respond to everyone without jumping between apps and worrying that you've missed something important. It helps you keep that community feeling going long after the Live is over.