Facebook allows users to post comments on posts, pictures, videos, and other content. However, sometimes a comment or entire threads of comments will be “hidden” so that they are not publicly visible on the post. There are a few reasons why Facebook hides comments.
Spam Comments
One of the most common reasons comments get hidden is because they are identified by Facebook’s automated systems as potential spam. Spam comments are unwanted, repetitive comments that are posted for promotional or other dubious purposes. They tend to contain links, repeated content, or other suspect signals. Facebook has filters in place to try to detect spammy comments and prevent them from being shown publicly.
For example, if someone copy and pastes the same comment over and over, or includes links to sketchy websites, Facebook’s spam detection will likely kick in and hide the comment so that it is not visible to other users. This helps cut down on disruptive, irrelevant, and potentially dangerous spam content.
Offensive or Abusive Comments
Another reason comments may become hidden is that they contain offensive, abusive, hateful, or otherwise inappropriate content. Facebook has rules against bullying, harassment, hate speech, and other problematic content. Users can report comments that violate the rules.
When multiple users report a comment, Facebook reviewers may determine the comment violates policies and hide it. Comments that include threats, personal attacks, obscenity, or other clearly abusive content may get hidden to protect the privacy and safety of users.
Irrelevant Comments
Sometimes comments simply have nothing to do with the original post and provide no meaningful discussion. For example, spammy comments may include content irrelevant to the post just to get attention. Comments about unrelated topics or random strings of text may also get identified as irrelevant and hidden by Facebook.
Page admins can also specifically choose to hide comments they deem off-topic or irrelevant to clean up discussion threads. Keeping comments focused on the post topic creates a better experience for visitors.
Excessive Comments from One User
In some cases, Facebook may hide comments if one user is posting an excessive number of comments on a post. This is to prevent single users from dominating the discussion. The specific number of comments allowed likely depends on Facebook’s proprietary algorithms.
But if a user is copy-pasting the same comment or posting a high volume of repetitive comments, Facebook may determine they are spamming the post and auto-hide some of their comments after a certain threshold.
Hidden by Page Admins
Page admins can choose to manually hide comments on their own posts. They may do this if they find certain comments inappropriate for their page, offensive to their brand or community, or otherwise undesirable.
For example, the admin of a corporate Facebook page may hide comments criticizing the company. Or the admin of a public figure’s page may hide comments attacking that person. Page admins can hide and unhide comments as they want to curate discussions.
Hidden Based on Keyword Filters
Page admins can set up keyword filtering systems to automatically hide comments containing banned words or phrases. This allows them to easily block comments with profanity, slurs, threats, or other concerning terms.
When a user attempts to post a comment with a banned keyword, it will be hidden. This allows admins to maintain civil discussion without constantly monitoring every comment.
Hidden by Facebook’s Algorithms
Facebook uses complex proprietary algorithms to determine which comments to show and hide. The exact inner workings are not known publicly. But in general, the algorithms look for signs of spam, abuse, harassment, hate, and low-quality comments.
Machine learning models analyze every comment’s text, context, user history, and other signals. Comments judged to be potentially problematic or disruptive may get hidden automatically without any user reports or admin actions.
Hidden Accidentally
Sometimes comments get mistakenly hidden by Facebook’s automated processes. Even the most advanced AI moderation tools can have false positives when trying to detect policy violations or spam.
Non-offensive, relevant comments may occasionally get flagged incorrectly and hidden, especially if they contain tricky wording, irony, sarcasm, or ambiguous meanings that machines find hard to interpret.
Hidden Temporarily
Rather than permanently delete questionable comments, Facebook sometimes hides them temporarily until human reviewers can analyze them further. This prevents potentially violating content from being seen while allowing reconsideration if the filters made a mistake.
Comments may be hidden first then later restored if reviewers determine they do not actually violate standards. This allows Facebook to take a cautious approach when automated tools are unsure about a comment’s classification.
How You Can Tell if a Comment is Hidden
When loading a post that contains hidden comments, you may see notifications like “This post has 6 hidden comments” or “This comment is hidden”. However, you cannot view the hidden comment’s text or who posted it.
People who originally wrote the hidden comments will still be able to see them when logged into their own accounts. But the comments are invisible to everyone else visiting the post.
You can also tell if your own comment has become hidden when you log in and can no longer see it under the post. You may even get a notice from Facebook informing you that your comment was hidden for violation of community standards.
Why Facebook Doesn’t Allow Viewing Hidden Comments
Some people understandably get frustrated when they see notifications about hidden comments but cannot view them. However, Facebook does not allow users to view hidden comments for a few reasons:
- Prevent abused/harassed users from having to see violating, offensive content
- Avoid giving spammers an audience for disruptive promotional content
- Encourage civil, meaningful discussions by removing unconstructive content
- Uphold community standards and terms of service
The goal of hiding problematic comments is to improve the Facebook experience for everyone. Letting users read abusive, spammy, or off-topic content that violates policies would defeat this purpose. So hidden comments remain out of public view.
How to Appeal Hidden Comments
If you believe Facebook incorrectly hid one of your comments, you can try appealing the decision. In your comment notification or under the hidden post, look for an option to request review. Explain why you feel the comment should not be hidden.
Keep in mind appeals are not always successful. But human reviewers will take another look at your comment and content. If they agree it was mistakenly flagged, they may unhide it so that it becomes public again.
You can also appeal disabled accounts due to policy violations. But continually posting rule-breaking content in appeals will not help your case, so be thoughtful in how you frame your reasoning.
Avoiding Hidden Comments in the Future
To reduce chances of your comments getting hidden in the future:
- Avoid spamming repetitive content
- Don’t post offensive, abusive, or bullying language
- Stay on-topic for the post you are commenting on
- Follow Facebook’s community standards and terms of service
While Facebook’s filters may sometimes be overzealous, following these basic principles will keep your commenting privileges intact. Be patient and respectful to keep the discussion productive for everyone.
The Controversy Around Hidden Comments
Facebook’s practice of hiding comments creates some controversy among users who see it as censorship. Some argue Facebook “deletes” comments expressing unpopular opinions by making them invisible to the public.
Others criticize Facebook for not being transparent enough about how many comments get hidden overall or exactly why each comment was considered problematic. Without this insight, it can appear Facebook is arbitrarily silencing certain voices.
Free speech advocates often want more open public discussions, even if some find certain opinions offensive. There are also concerns Facebook disproportionately hides viewpoints from marginalized demographics speaking “truth to power.”
On the other hand, supporters of Facebook’s approach say hidden comments create a necessary balance. Completely open and unmoderated discussions too easily descend into chaos, bullying, and hatred that prevents meaningful dialogue. They argue Facebook has a duty to keep conversations reasonably constructive.
Hidden comments are seen as an appropriate middle ground between completely open and entirely shut-down interactions. But this debate is sure to continue as Facebook wrestles with its role in modern public discourse.
Conclusion
In summary, Facebook hides some comments to maintain a safer, more pleasant experience for users. Hidden comments are typically removed for containing spam, abuse, harassment, hate, irrelevance, or other violations of policy.
While this approach remains controversial to some who want more transparency, Facebook currently defaults to minimizing the visibility of problematic comments. There are still some concerns about false positives and uneven enforcement.
But overall, the intention is to balance open discussion with the need to discourage disruptive behaviors. Maintaining civil engagement on the platform remains an ongoing challenge with billions of users worldwide.
When you notice notifications about hidden comments, remember that Facebook has deemed them inappropriate to be shown publicly for now. However, hidden comments can still be appealed if you believe they were moderated incorrectly.
With thoughtful commenting and adherence to community standards, you can avoid having your own comments hidden moving forward. Together we can build connections and have constructive conversations on this far-reaching platform.
Whether you love it or hate it, comment moderation through hiding is how Facebook attempts to chart the narrow path forward. Society continues wrestling with the best ways to adapt old rules of dialogue to the fast-moving digital age.
What duty do social media platforms have to encourage empathy while minimizing harm? Can removing some voices paradoxically allow more voices to flourish? The challenges are complex with no perfect solutions. But the quest for workable balances continues.
For now, Facebook leans towards limiting the damage of the most destructive comments, even if that means some collateral damage of inappropriately hidden ones as well. They continue updating and training AI models to refine judgments between free speech and abuse.
hidden comments may frustrate some users. But the intention is not usually to censor specific opinions, rather to reduce the overall potential for harm. There is still plenty of room for disagreement and dissent on Facebook, within reasonable community bounds.
Perhaps we should have some compassion for the impossible balancing act Facebook faces. And patience as society slowly finds the right equilibrium. For all its flaws, Facebook connects humanity in ways unimaginable just decades ago.
There will always be objections and course corrections on the path ahead. But if we can have a bit more understanding across the aisle, the grand experiment of social media just might inch a little closer towards the lofty ideal of elevating our collective potential.