How to Fix Facebook Comments

Ever get a notification for a new comment on your Facebook post, only to click on it and find nothing there? It's a common and confusing problem for personal users and social media managers alike. This guide will walk you through exactly why your Facebook comments might be disappearing and provide clear, step-by-step instructions on how to fix the issue and find those missing conversations.

Why Aren't My Facebook Comments Showing Up?

Before jumping into solutions, let's quickly look at the usual suspects. When comments go missing on Facebook, it's almost always due to one of a few reasons ranging from simple settings to hidden moderation tools. Understanding the cause makes the fix much easier.

Here's what's likely happening:

• Comment Sorting Setting: By default, Facebook often shows you the "Most Relevant" comments first, not the newest ones. Important or recent comments can get hidden if they aren't deemed relevant by the algorithm.
• Page Moderation Filters: If you're managing a Business Page, you likely have moderation settings turned on. The profanity filter or custom keyword blocklists can automatically hide comments without notifying you.
• The User Blocked You (Or You Blocked Them): If you've blocked a user or they've blocked you, you won't be able to see their comments, and vice versa.
• The User Deleted Their Comment: Sometimes the simplest explanation is the right one. The person might have second-guessed their comment and deleted it moments after posting.
• A Temporary Glitch: We've all been there. A simple bug in the Facebook app or your browser can cause elements, including comments, to not load correctly.

Most of the time, the fix is a simple settings adjustment. Let's walk through the solutions from most common to least.

Step-by-Step Fixes for Uncovering Missing Facebook Comments

Ready to find those lost comments? Follow these steps to diagnose and solve the problem for good on your personal profile or Business Page.

Fix 1: Change Your Comment Sorting Order

This is the most frequent reason comments seem to be missing. Facebook's algorithm tries to show you conversations it thinks you'll find most interesting, but "Most Relevant" can easily hide the most recent replies. Here's how to change it.

On a Desktop Browser:

1. Go to the post where you can't see the comments.
2. Just below the post and above the comments section, look for a small dropdown menu. It will likely say "Most relevant."
3. Click it and select either Newest or All comments from the options.
4. The comment section will refresh, and any previously hidden comments should now appear in chronological order.

On the Facebook Mobile App:

1. Navigate to the post on the app.
2. Tap on the comment count button (e.g., "10 Comments") below the post.
3. At the top of the comments screen, you'll see a filter that likely says "Most Relevant." Tap on it.
4. A menu will pop up at the bottom of the screen. Select Newest or All Comments.
5. The comments will reload, showing you everything in order of when it was posted.

Making this one small change often solves the problem instantly. If you still can't see the comment, it's time to check your moderation settings.

Fix 2: Review Your Page Moderation Rules (For Business Pages)

If you're managing a Facebook Business Page, you have powerful tools to keep your comment section clean and on-brand. However, these same tools can sometimes be a little too aggressive and hide legitimate comments from your view.

Here's how to check what your Page is automatically hiding.

How to Find and Adjust Moderation Assist:

Facebook's Moderation Assist is an automated tool that acts like your Page's own bouncer. If a comment matches certain criteria you've set, it gets hidden automatically. Here's how to check it.

1. Go to your Facebook Page and select Meta Business Suite from the left-hand menu.
2. Once in Business Suite, click on the Inbox tool.
3. In the top right corner of the Inbox, click the Automation icon (it looks like a little robot with a sparkle).
4. Find the section for Moderation Assist and click on it to see and edit your criteria.

Inside Moderation Assist, you can adjust settings that automatically hide comments containing:

• Links
• Profanity (you can set this from mild to strong)
• Specific keywords or phrases you've added
• Images
• Comments from new accounts or accounts with no profile picture

Take a close look at the "Comments with keywords" section. A common mistake is adding a keyword that's too broad. For instance, if you block the word "deal," you might hide genuine questions like "When is your next big deal?" It's often better to moderate proactively than to set rules that are too strict.

Check Your Curation and Moderation Log:

When comments are automatically hidden, they don't disappear forever. They go into a moderation queue where you can review them.

1. From your Page, go to Professional Dashboard.
2. Scroll down and find the Moderation Assist tool under "Your tools."
3. In the Moderation activity section, you can review comments that have been automatically hidden.
4. From here, you can choose to Unhide the comment, Delete it, or Ban the user.

Checking this moderation log regularly is a good habit for any social media manager. You reclaim valuable feedback, answer hidden customer questions, and fine-tune your moderation rules so they work for you, not against you.

Fix 3: Try the Basic Tech Troubleshooting Steps

Sometimes, the issue isn't with Facebook's settings but with your device. Before you get too deep in the weeds, run through these quick tech checks.

• Refresh the Page: The classic. A simple refresh can often fix temporary loading errors.
• Clear Your Browser Cache: Old data stored in your browser's cache can cause display issues on websites. Go into your browser settings, find the "Clear browsing data" option, and clear your cached images and files.
• Update Your Facebook App: If you're on mobile, head to the App Store or Google Play Store and make sure you have the latest version of the Facebook app. An outdated app is often the source of strange bugs.
• Restart Your Device: Turning your phone or computer off and on again can resolve underlying background process issues.
• Check from a Different Device or Browser: The quickest way to see if the issue is device-specific is to try looking at the post from another browser, your phone, or a colleague's computer. If the comment shows up there, you know the problem is local to your original device.

Fix 4: Manually Unhide a Comment

Have you or a team member ever accidentally hidden a comment? It happens. A slip of the mouse can make a comment invisible to the public. If you think this might be the case, you can find it and turn its visibility back on.

When a comment is hidden, you (and other page admins) can still see it, but it appears grayed out. Simply hover over the grayed-out comment and an Unhide option will appear. Click it, and the comment will become visible to everyone again.

Best Practices for Proactive Comment Management

Fixing comments when they go wrong is one thing, but building a community where conversations blossom is a whole other level. As a brand on social media, your comment sections are more than just places for feedback - they are communities in the making. Managing them well is essential for organic growth.

Create and Pin Community Guidelines

Don't make your audience guess what is and isn't acceptable. Create a short, friendly post outlining your community guidelines (e.g., no spam, be respectful, no hate speech) and pin it to the top of your Facebook Page. This sets a clear standard for everyone and gives you a reference point if you ever need to remove a comment or ban a user.

Be Smart About Keyword Blocking

Automated moderation is a huge time-saver, but use it with care. Instead of blocking generic words, focus your blocklist on specific terms that are unequivocally spammy or offensive. This could include competitor brand names often used in spam, common slurs, or explicit words. Always review your moderation log to make sure your rules aren't catching innocent comments in the crossfire.

Dedicate Time to Engagement

The best way to foster a positive comment section is to be an active participant in it. Schedule a few blocks of time each day to read and reply to comments. Answering questions, thanking people for feedback, and "liking" positive comments shows your audience that you're listening. When people feel heard, they are more likely to think twice before leaving a negative or spammy comment.

Final Thoughts

Fixing Facebook comments that aren't showing up is usually a matter of checking a few key display or moderation settings. By running through comment sorting, page moderation rules, and basic tech troubleshooting, you can almost always find and restore those missing conversations and get your community back on track.

After finding and fixing your comment issues, the next challenge is keeping up with all the conversations across every social platform. That daily juggle of switching between apps and inboxes is exactly why we built the engagement tools in Postbase. We put all your comments and DMs from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and more into one single, organized inbox so your team can respond faster and nothing important ever gets missed.