- How to hide a comment on your Facebook profile
- What happens when you hide a comment
- Hide vs delete: which should you use?
- How to hide comments on a Facebook Page
- Hiding comments during a live video
- Stop unwanted comments before they appear
- When hiding is the right move for a business
- Can't find the Hide option?
- My verdict
- Frequently asked questions
To hide a comment on Facebook, go to the post, open the Options menu (three dots) next to the comment and choose Hide comment. The comment and its replies disappear for everyone except the person who wrote it and their friends, so they won't know you hid it.
Hiding a comment is Facebook's quiet way of dealing with trolls, spam and that one relative who always overshares. Unlike deleting, hiding doesn't tip anyone off. The person who wrote it still sees it, and so do their friends, so they're far less likely to come back angrier. Everyone else sees a clean post. It works on your personal profile and on Pages, with a few differences worth knowing.
How to hide a comment on your Facebook profile
- Go to the post on your profile with the comment you want to hide.
- Next to the comment, tap or hover over Options (the three dots).
- Choose Hide comment.
The comment and its replies are hidden at once. To bring it back, go to the comment and tap Unhide below it, or open Options and choose Unhide comment.
What happens when you hide a comment
| Who | Can they see the hidden comment? |
|---|---|
| The person who wrote it | Yes |
| Their friends | Yes |
| Everyone else who can see your post | No |
| Replies to that comment | Hidden along with it |
That's the clever bit. Because the writer and their friends still see the comment, there's no obvious sign it's been hidden, which stops most arguments before they start. If you only want to hide certain replies, hide each one separately. The original comment then stays visible to everyone.
Hide vs delete: which should you use?
| Hide | Delete | |
|---|---|---|
| Removed from the post? | Only for most viewers | Yes, for everyone |
| Does the writer notice? | Unlikely, they still see it | Likely, it's gone |
| Can you undo it? | Yes, unhide any time | No |
| Best for | Rude, spammy or awkward comments | Anything harmful, illegal or private |
My rule: hide by default, delete only when the comment shares something that shouldn't be public, such as an address or phone number, and report anything abusive.
How to hide comments on a Facebook Page
Pages work the same way for hiding, but there's more control for finding hidden comments later.
- From your Page, go to the post.
- Next to the comment, open Options and choose Hide comment.
- To review everything you've hidden, click Most Relevant at the top of the comments and select Hidden by This Page.
- Click Unhide below any comment you want to restore.
A few catches from Facebook's help centre:
- Hidden by This Page is only available on a computer or in the Facebook app for Android.
- The comment ranking setting must be on to sort hidden comments. It's on for Pages by default.
- People with full Facebook access to a Page can hide comments. People with only task access can't.
The Hidden by This Page view also shows comments hidden automatically by the profanity filter and comments containing words you've blocked from your Page. That's worth a look now and then, because filters sometimes catch a real customer question by mistake.
Hiding comments during a live video
If you're watching a Facebook live video and the comment stream is distracting, Facebook lets you hide or reveal comments and reactions while you watch. That only changes your own view, not what anyone else sees.
Stop unwanted comments before they appear
Hiding deals with comments one at a time. On a Page, you can also get ahead of them. Facebook's profanity filter hides comments with common offensive words automatically, and you can add your own list of words to block from your Page. Anything caught that way lands in the same Hidden by This Page view, so you can still check it. On your personal profile, the better lever is who can comment on your public posts, which you'll find in your profile's privacy settings. Narrowing it to friends cuts most spam at the source.
Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?
I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
When hiding is the right move for a business
- Spam and scam links in your comments.
- Off-topic arguments between other people on your post.
- Competitors fishing for your customers.
- Rude comments that don't break Facebook's rules but put customers off.
Don't hide fair complaints from customers. Reply to them publicly and helpfully instead. People reading the thread judge you on how you handle criticism, and a calm, useful reply often wins more trust than a spotless comment section.
Can't find the Hide option?
- Make sure it's your post or your Page's post. You can't hide comments on other people's posts.
- For a Page, check you have full Facebook access, not task access.
- Update the Facebook app.
- On iPhone, Hidden by This Page isn't available yet, so use a computer or Android to review hidden Page comments.
For more on what Facebook shares with others, see whether Facebook can see your screenshots, and if a commenter has crossed the line into something worse, read how to tell if a Facebook account has been hacked, because scam comments often come from hijacked profiles.
My verdict
Hide first, delete rarely. Hiding a Facebook comment removes it for almost everyone while the writer still sees it, so you avoid a public row. On a Page, check Hidden by This Page from a computer every so often so real comments caught by your filters don't go unanswered.
Frequently asked questions
How do I hide a comment on Facebook?
Open the Options menu next to the comment and choose Hide comment. It works on your own posts and your Page's posts.
Can someone tell if you hide their Facebook comment?
Not easily. The person who wrote it and their friends can still see it. It's hidden for everyone else.
How do I see hidden comments on my Facebook Page?
Click Most Relevant above the comments and choose Hidden by This Page. This works on a computer or the Android app.
Can I hide comments on someone else's Facebook post?
No. You can only hide comments on your own posts or on posts from a Page you manage.
