How to Block Viewers, Ban Guests, and Moderate the Chat

You can moderate the chat for certain destinations from right within the StreamYard studio! These include StreamYard On-Air, Facebook (Meta), and YouTube. It is not possible to moderate the chat within StreamYard for destinations other than those three at this time. For other destinations, you will need to manage the chat and viewership directly on the platform itself.

Blocking Users

Available for StreamYard On-Air, YouTube, and Facebook Pages (Meta).

From within the Studio, click on the three dots next to the comment.
Select Block user.

That’s it! You’ll see a small confirmation that they’ve been blocked.

How blocking works on each platform:

StreamYard On-Air: Blocked people will still be able to send messages on their end, but they will no longer show up in the chat for anyone else to see. A blocked viewer cannot be unblocked for the particular stream that they were blocked from.
YouTube: Blocking a viewer who is watching on YouTube will prevent their comments from showing up, however, they’ll still be able to watch the live stream.
Facebook Pages (Meta): Blocking someone who is watching from Facebook will prevent them from being able to watch the live stream any further- they will see this instead:

Additionally, you can block them directly on Facebook and unblock them here as well.

Deleting Comments

Available for StreamYard On-Air, YouTube, and Facebook (Meta).

Before you proceed, make sure you absolutely want to delete the particular comment before proceeding, as deleted comments are unrecoverable.

Here’s how:

From within the studio, click on the three dots next to the comment.
Select Delete comment.

Banning Studio Guests

There may be instances where you need to ban/block a studio guest.

The guests must authenticate feature needs to be enabled for this to work. This feature requires all guests to authenticate by logging into a valid Facebook or YouTube account to be able to enter the studio. You must be logged into your StreamYard account in order to be able to ban/block a studio guest.

Click on the three dots to the top right of the guest's window.
Select Ban from studio.
Click on Ban guest to finish the process.

They will be kicked from the studio and will be presented with the message, "You've been blocked." If they try to rejoin using the same account, they will receive the message, "The host has blocked you from entering this broadcast."

If you click on the "Ban from studio" button before enabling the guest authentication feature, you'll have the option to enable it, after which they will be kicked from the studio and can rejoin after authenticating.

FAQs

I see the option "Put user in timeout" for YouTube comments. What does this mean?
This option allows the host to prevent the viewer from commenting for 5 minutes. The viewer will be notified that they are on a "time out". Learn more about it here.

Can I moderate comments when streaming to Facebook Groups or Profiles?

No. At this time you can only moderate comments when streaming to Facebook Pages.

Can I moderate comments that come through from my guest's destinations?
No. It is not possible to delete comments from guest destinations, block them, or put them in a time-out. The guest would be responsible for moderating their own live stream from within the studio or on the platform itself depending on the destination.

Where can I learn more about moderating the chat and my viewership on the other destination platforms?
Here are some useful resources:

Can banned guests rejoin the studio?
Banned guests will not be able to rejoin the studio using the same account that was banned. They may, however, enter the studio using a different YouTube/Facebook account. You will need to re-ban the user again.

Can I remove a banned guest from the banned guest list?
Yes. To do this enter the studio, click on Settings, and click on the x on their name to remove them.