Facebook’s comment system can be confusing at times. You may notice that some posts show a certain number of comments, but when you click to view them, some or all of the comments are missing. There are a few possible reasons why you can’t see comments that Facebook says are there.
The comments are from friends of the poster, not yours
The most common reason you can’t view all the comments on a Facebook post is because some of them were written by friends of the poster who are not your friends. Facebook’s privacy settings allow users to choose whether comments are public, visible to friends only, or a customized group of people.
If the post author has limited the audience for comments, you will only see the comments written by your friends and public comments. The total comment count may be higher because comments by the post author’s friends are also included in the tally.
How to tell if limited audience comments are the issue
You can often identify if hidden comments are due to audience restrictions because you will see a message like “See More Comments” with a note that says “Most Recent” or “Friends.”
This indicates that there are earlier comments you cannot see because they were posted by the author’s friends.
The comments are from friends of friends
In some cases, you also cannot see comments from “friends of friends.” These are comments left by people who are Facebook friends with the friends of the post author, but who are not your direct friends.
How to tell if friends of friends comments are hidden
You may see a message like “See More Comments” with a note that says “Friends of Friends” or a name. This means there are comments from the poster’s extended friend network that you cannot view.
Comment filtering tools remove unwanted comments
Page owners and group admins have the ability to use keywords and filters to automatically hide unwanted comments on their posts. This allows them to block spam, offensive language, or off-topic remarks.
If filters are in place, you may see comments disappear right after posting. The total comment count will remain the same, since Facebook still registers the filtered-out comments.
How to tell if comment filtering is being used
There is no specific Facebook indicator that filtering is removing comments you cannot see. But if you notice your own comments consistently not appearing, that points to active filtering.
Individual users blocked you from seeing their comments
In addition to page and group comment filters, individual Facebook users can block other users from seeing their comments and posts. If someone has blocked you, their comments will still be tallied in the total, but will not be visible to you.
How to tell if a user blocked you
You will not get any kind of message pointing out their comments are hidden. The only way to identify if someone has blocked you is if you consistently cannot see comments by the same person that are visible to other users.
Deleted comments still count toward the total
When a comment gets deleted by the user who posted it, by a page admin, or by Facebook for rule violations, it still gets included in the comment tally. But because it no longer exists, you cannot view it.
This means that a high comment count combined with missing comments may indicate there were remarks that have been removed.
How to tell if deleted comments are the issue
There is no clear way to determine how many missing comments were deleted unless a post author provides context on the removals. Unlike limiting audience or blocking users, outright deletion does not show any special messages.
Banned users’ comments still count
If a user is banned from a Facebook page or group due to violations of the community rules, their existing comments remain visible. But any new comments they attempt to add will be automatically removed by Facebook.
Banned users may still try posting comments on old posts and not realize their comments are no longer publicly visible. Their comments still increment the total comment tally, even though nobody else can see them.
How to tell if banned user comments are hidden
There is no message that appears pointing out the hidden comments are from a banned user. The only way to identify this is if you recognize the missing comments are from the same person who appears to still be able to actively use Facebook.
Facebook glitches
In some rare cases, Facebook’s own bugs and glitches result in comment counts being out of sync with visible comments. Issues where the cache wasn’t cleared properly after comments were deleted or where comments weren’t displaying reliably have been reported.
If the mismatch between comment count and visible comments seems truly random (different missing users and posts each time), this points to a technical issue.
How to tell if Facebook glitches are the cause
There’s no perfect way to confirm the cause as a Facebook glitch, but random instances of missing comments that change when you reload the page indicate a technical problem.
What should you do if comments are missing?
When you notice comments showing in the count but not visible on a Facebook post, here are some steps you can take:
- Refresh the page – this may resolve short-term glitches
- Try viewing the post from a different device or web browser – this can bypass device-specific issues
- Check if the comments reappear later – some problems self-resolve
- Ask the post author if they limited commenting – they may confirm audience restrictions
- Ask friends if they can see all comments – this helps identify blocking
- Report the issue to Facebook – they may be able to troubleshoot unknown bugs
While having comments mysteriously disappear in Facebook can be annoying, in most cases it is due to intentional choices by users to limit visibility. There are options like asking friends for help and reporting issues to Facebook that can help identify and potentially resolve the hidden comments problem.
Conclusion
Facebook’s commenting system allows many configuration options, so comments can disappear for reasons like audience limitations, banned users, and comment deletion. Most often, the cause is that commenters have visibility set to “friends” or “friends of friends.” Less common reasons include glitches, personal blocks, filtering tools, and banned users. While this can be confusing, being aware of the potential reasons for missing comments helps explain what happens to comments you can’t see.