comments.markAsSpam
method is
no longer supported.
The following examples show how to use the YouTube Data API (v3) to perform functions related to comments.
Retrieve comments for a video
To retrieve a list of comment threads for a video, call the commentThreads.list
method. Set the following parameter values in your request:
-
part
: Set the parameter value tosnippet
if you only want to retrieve top-level comments or tosnippet,replies
if you also want to retrieve replies to top-level comments. (Note that acommentThread
resource does not necessarily contain all replies to a comment, and you need to use thecomments.list
method if you want to retrieve all replies for a particular comment.) -
videoId
: Specify the YouTube video ID of the video for which you are retrieving comments.
The request below retrieves comments and comment replies related to the video of the keynote speech at the 2014 Google I/O conference, which has the video ID wtLJPvx7-ys
.
https://developers.google.com/apis-explorer/#p/youtube/v3/youtube.commentThreads.list? part=snippet,replies &videoId=wtLJPvx7-ys
Retrieve comments about or associated with a channel
The API supports the ability to either retrieve comments threads about a channel or to retrieve all comment threads associated with a channel. In the latter case, the API could contain comments about the channel or about any of the channel's videos.
- To retrieve comments about a channel, follow the instructions for retrieving comments for a video. However, instead of setting the
videoId
parameter, set thechannelId
parameter to identify the channel. - To retrieve comments associated with a channel, follow the instructions for retrieving comments for a video. However, instead of setting the
videoId
parameter, set theallThreadsRelatedToChannelId
parameter to identify the channel.
The request below retrieves all comment threads associated with the GoogleDevelopers YouTube channel:
https://developers.google.com/apis-explorer/#p/youtube/v3/youtube.commentThreads.list? part=snippet,replies &allThreadsRelatedToChannelId=UC_x5XG1OV2P6uZZ5FSM9Ttw
Adding a comment
Call the commentThreads.insert
method to add a new, top-level comment to a channel or a video. Set the request's part
parameter value to snippet
. The body of the request is a commentThread resource
in which the snippet.topLevelComment[].snippet[].textOriginal
property contains the comment text. This request must be authorized using OAuth 2.0.
- To add a comment to a channel, use the
snippet.channelId
property to identify the channel. - To add a comment to a video, use the
snippet.channelId
property to identify the channel that uploaded the video. Also use thesnippet.videoId
property to identify the video.
The following sample request adds a comment to a video.
https://developers.google.com/apis-explorer/#p/youtube/v3/youtube.commentThreads.insert? part=snippet
The request inserts the resource shown below.
{ "snippet": { "channelId": "UC_x5XG1OV2P6uZZ5FSM9Ttw", "topLevelComment": { "snippet": { "textOriginal": "This video is awesome!" } }, "videoId": "MILSirUni5E" } }
Reply to a comment
Call the comments.insert
method to reply to a comment. Set the request's part
parameter value to snippet
. The body of the request is a comment resource
in which the snippet.textOriginal
property contains the comment text. The snippet.parentId
property identifies the comment associated with the reply, and it's value is a commentThread resource's ID
. This request must be authorized using OAuth 2.0.
The following sample request adds a reply to an existing comment.
https://developers.google.com/apis-explorer/#p/youtube/v3/youtube.comments.insert? part=snippet
The request inserts the resource shown below. To execute the request in the APIs Explorer, use the snippet.parentId
property's value to identify the top-level comment associated with the reply. In a commentThread
resource, the snippet.topLevelComment[].id
property specifies the resource's unique ID.
{ "snippet": { "parentId": "COMMENT_THREAD_ID", "textOriginal": "That is true." } }
Update a top-level comment or comment reply
To update the text of a top-level comment or a reply to a top-level comment, call the comments.update
method. Set the part
parameter's value to snippet
. In the request body, the id
property identifies the comment that you are modifying and the new comment text.
- In a
commentThread
resource, which identifies a top-level comment, thesnippet.topLevelComment[].id
property specifies the comment's unique ID. - In a
comment
resource, which can identify either a top-level comment or a reply to a comment, theid
property specifies the comment's unique ID.
The sample request below updates the text of an existing comment.
https://developers.google.com/apis-explorer/#p/youtube/v3/youtube.comments.update? part=snippet
The request body contains the JSON snippet shown below. To execute the request in the APIs Explorer, set the id
property's value to identify the comment that you are updating. The request must be authorized by the comment's author.
{ "id": "COMMENT_ID", "snippet": { "textOriginal": "That is true." } }
Set a comment's moderation status
To set a comment's moderation status, call the comments.setModerationStatus
method. This action is used when a channel owner moderates comments on the channel or the channel's videos.
When calling this method, set the id
parameter's value to identify the comment. Also set the moderationStatus
parameter to the desired status. A comment's status can only be adjusted by the owner of the channel where the comment appears.
-
Step 1: Retrieve comments that are being held for review
Call the
commentThreads.list
method to retrieve comments for the channel or video. Set themoderationStatus
parameter's value toheldForReview
. The API response could be used to display a list of comments with an option for the channel owner to publish or reject each one. -
Step 2: Update the moderation status of a comment
Call the
comments.setModerationStatus
method to update the comment's status. Use theid
parameter's value to specify the comment's unique ID. Set themoderationStatus
parameter to eitherpublished
orrejected
. If you are rejecting a comment, you can also set thebanAuthor
parameter totrue
to prevent the author from making additional comments on the channel or video.
Note: The API does not provide a way to list or otherwise discover rejected comments. However, you can still change the moderation status of a rejected comment to published
if the comment's unique ID is known. In addition, once a comment's moderation status is updated to either published
or rejected
, the moderation status cannot be changed back to heldForReview
.
Remove a comment
This example shows how to delete a comment. The example has the following steps:
-
Step 1: Retrieve the comment ID
Follow the steps above to retrieve a list of comments for a video or channel. Remember that a comment can only be deleted by its author, so you will need to compare the value of a
comment
resource'ssnippet.authorChannelId.value
property to the authenticated user's channel ID to determine whether the user can delete that particular comment. -
Step 2: Delete the comment or comment thread
Once you have identified the ID of the comment thread or comment that you are deleting, call the
comments.delete
method to delete that comment. Use theid
parameter value to identify the comment ID or comment thread ID that you are deleting. The request must be authorized using OAuth 2.0. If you are testing this query in the APIs Explorer, you will need to substitute a valid comment ID or comment thread ID for theid
parameter value in the request below.https://developers.google.com/apis-explorer/#p/youtube/v3/youtube.comments.delete? id=COMMENT_ID