To turn off live chat on YouTube, open your stream in Live Control Room, click Edit in the top right, then Live chat, and untick Enable live chat. YouTube says you can switch it on or off at any time, even mid-stream. The one exception: you can't turn off live chat on a Premiere.
Live chat is on by default for every stream unless your audience is set as made for kids. That's great when the room's friendly and a headache when it isn't, or when you just want to present without a scrolling wall beside you.
Below are the exact steps from YouTube's help pages, the Premiere catch, how viewers can hide chat on their side, and the middle-ground settings I'd try before switching it off completely.
Turn off live chat for your stream
YouTube's moderation help page keeps it to one line: from the top right, click Edit, then Live chat, then Enable live chat. Untick it and the chat closes. In full:
- Go to YouTube Studio and open Live Control Room for the stream.
- Click Edit in the top right.
- Open the Live chat section.
- Untick Enable live chat.
- Save your changes.
You can do this before you go live or while you're already streaming. YouTube says it can be turned on or off at any time, even after the event has started, so you can open chat for the Q&A at the end and close it again afterwards.
The Premiere catch
If you're running a Premiere rather than a live stream, there's no off switch. YouTube's help page says plainly that you can't turn off live chat on Premieres. What you can do is narrow who's allowed to talk, which I've covered below.
Worth knowing too: if you edit a live stream in the video editor after it ends, YouTube says it won't have chat replay. That isn't a way to hide chat on purpose, but it explains why replay sometimes vanishes.
Softer options before you switch it off
Turning chat off stops the trolls and the regulars at the same time. YouTube gives you several settings that keep the conversation but change who's in it:
| Setting | What it does | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Subscribers-only chat | Only subscribers can send messages, and you can set how long they must have been subscribed | Drive-by spam on a new stream |
| Members-only chat | Only channel members can chat (can't run alongside subscribers-only) | Member perks and smaller rooms |
| Live commentary mode | Only approved users can send messages; everyone else reads | Panels, co-hosts and guest experts |
| Slow mode | Sets a wait between each person's messages | Busy streams that move too fast to read |
| Hold potentially inappropriate messages | YouTube holds flagged messages (Basic or Strict) for you to show or hide | Keeping chat open with a safety net |
| Blocked words | Blocks messages that contain or closely match words you list | Repeat insults or spam links |
With live commentary mode, YouTube notes that if your approved users list is empty, your own channel is the only one that can post. That's a neat way to pin announcements without any noise, and you can update the Approved Users list in your community settings whenever a guest joins.
You can also add moderators. YouTube has standard and managing moderators, and on a computer anyone moderating can hold down Alt or Option to pause the feed and delete a message, put someone in time out or hide them.
Top chat or all chat
Before you close chat, check which view your viewers are seeing. YouTube's Live Chat page explains there are two: Top chat, which filters messages such as potential spam to make the chat easier to read, and Live chat, which isn't filtered and shows everything as it comes in. Viewers can switch between them at any time.
YouTube says Top chat is based on signals like the message text, the handle and channel name, the avatar and your channel's moderation settings. So tightening your moderation settings also tidies what most people see, without anyone losing the ability to ask a question. If reactions are the distraction rather than messages, those have their own switch too: in Live Control Room, click Stream, then Edit, then Customization, and toggle Reactions.
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Turn off the AI chat summary instead
Some creators aren't bothered by chat itself but by the AI-generated summary that new viewers may see when they join. YouTube says you can switch that off on its own: in Live Control Room, open the Customization tab and toggle live chat summary. Moderators on mobile can also disable it per stream in the chat moderation settings.
If you're watching, not streaming
Viewers can hide chat on their own screen without affecting anyone else. On vertical live streams in the YouTube app, YouTube says to tap the menu at the top right of the video and turn off Live Chat. If chat's missing when you want it, my guide to YouTube live chat not showing covers the usual reasons.
And if it's the comments under your uploads that you want to close, that's a separate setting: see how to turn off comments on YouTube.
My advice
Don't reach for the off switch first. For most business streams, subscribers-only chat plus Basic message holding keeps out the noise and keeps the questions that make a stream worth watching. Save the full switch-off for presentations where you'd never read the chat anyway, and remember that on a Premiere it isn't an option at all.
Frequently asked questions
How do I turn off live chat on YouTube?
In Live Control Room, click Edit in the top right, then Live chat, and untick Enable live chat.
Can I turn off live chat during a stream?
Yes. YouTube says you can turn live chat on or off at any time, even after the event has started.
Can I turn off live chat on a YouTube Premiere?
No. YouTube says you can't turn off live chat on Premieres, though you can limit who can chat.
Is live chat on by default on YouTube?
Yes, unless your live stream's audience is set as made for kids.
How do viewers hide YouTube live chat?
On vertical live streams in the app, tap the menu at the top right of the video and turn off Live Chat.
Can I keep chat but stop spam?
Yes. Subscribers-only chat, slow mode, blocked words and holding potentially inappropriate messages all keep chat open with more control.
