YouTube users can now pause video comments without disabling them

YouTube has introduced a new moderation tool for creators that allows them to pause comments, preventing any new comments from being added to videos while preserving those that have already been posted. in Blog post published on ThursdayYouTube said the feature allows creators to “take a break from moderating comments if it becomes overwhelming” and provides some flexibility on how comments are managed.

Before this update, YouTube creators only had two options for moderating what would otherwise be a full comment and free-for-all: either submit comments to manual review before they’re published, or disable them entirely. everyone Comments on the video. YouTube says the pause feature is rolling out now — we’ve asked the company for clarification on global availability and will update this story if we hear back.

As part of its announcement, YouTube also renamed some of its existing moderation settings for easier understanding. This means that instead of offering the options to “hold potentially inappropriate comments for review” and switching to “increase strictness” – which is a lot to cram into any Options Menu – Users will instead be given a simple choice between Play, Pause or Stop. Enabling comments also toggles some optional moderation levels to choose from: None (completely unmoderated), Basic (which reserves “potentially inappropriate” comments for review), Strict (which reserves a wider range of comments for review), And comment all.

You can find the new pause option in the video-level commenting settings on the watch page within the YouTube app, or in YouTube Studio on both mobile and desktop.