You’ve been there. You remember roasting a friend’s terrible gaming clip or leaving a heartfelt thank-you on a DIY plumbing video three years ago, but now you can't find it. It's annoying. YouTube’s interface feels like a labyrinth sometimes, especially when they hide your own history behind four different menus. Honestly, figuring out how to see your youtube comments shouldn't feel like a digital archeology project, but here we are.
Digital footprints matter. Whether you're trying to delete an old, cringey remark from your teenage years or you need to find a specific link you shared in a thread, your comment history is a recorded timeline of your life on the platform. Google actually keeps a very meticulous log of this stuff. They just don't make the "view all" button particularly obvious on the homepage.
The Direct Path to Your Comment History
Stop scrolling through your notifications. That’s the first mistake everyone makes. Notifications only show you replies to your comments, not the original ones you posted that nobody touched. To see everything, you have to go into the "Your Data in YouTube" section or the Google My Activity hub.
If you are on a desktop, it's actually easier than mobile. Click those three horizontal lines (the "hamburger" menu) in the top left corner. Hit "History." On the right-hand side of the screen, you’ll see a list of "Manage all history." Underneath that, there is a specific link for "Comments."
Click it.
Suddenly, you’re looking at a vertical timeline of every single thing you’ve ever said on the site. It shows the date, the video title, and a snippet of what you wrote. If you want to delete something, there’s a little "X" right there. If you want to see the context, clicking the link will take you directly to the video, though it sometimes struggles to auto-scroll to your specific comment if the thread is thousands of messages long.
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Mobile is a different beast
Using the app? It’s buried deeper. You have to tap your profile icon, go to Settings, then "Manage all history." This usually kicks you out of the YouTube app and opens a browser window for your Google Account. It feels disjointed. It's clunky. But it works. Once that Google My Activity page loads, you have to filter by "YouTube" and then look for the "Interactions" tab.
Why Bother Looking?
Most people want to know how to see your youtube comments because they've realized their old opinions haven't aged well. Or maybe you're being "ghosted" by the algorithm.
There is this concept called "Shadowbanning" that people talk about constantly in the comments of creators like MrBeast or Philip DeFranco. While YouTube officially denies shadowbanning individuals, they definitely use "held for review" filters. If you go back through your history and notice that your comments on a specific channel never received a single like or reply, there is a high probability that the creator has blacklisted certain words you used, or your account has been flagged as "likely spam" by Automated Systems.
Checking your history allows you to see if your voice is actually being heard. It’s a reality check.
The Privacy Angle
Google isn't just keeping these for you; they use them to build your interest profile. Every time you comment "this recipe sucked" or "best song ever," you are feeding the machine. Accessing this data isn't just about nostalgia; it's about data hygiene. If you find yourself looking at your history and realizing you’ve commented on 500 political videos in a week, it might explain why your "Recommended" feed is a stressful mess.
Cleaning out your comments can actually help reset your algorithm. It’s not a 1:1 fix, but removing your engagement from certain types of content tells the system you’re no longer interested in that "vibe."
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Common Roadblocks and Glitches
Sometimes you click the link and... nothing.
- Brand Accounts: This is the big one. If you have a "Brand Account" (a channel name that isn't your legal Google name), your comments are tied to that specific sub-profile. If you are logged into your main email but looking for comments made by your "GamingChannel88" persona, you won't see them. You have to switch profiles first.
- Deleted Videos: If a creator deletes their video, or if it gets set to private, your comment effectively vanishes from the public eye. However, it often still shows up in your Google Activity log as "Content unavailable." It's a ghost in the machine.
- The "Load More" Trap: If you've been on YouTube since 2006, the My Activity page will lag. Hard. You’ll have to scroll and wait for the "infinite scroll" to trigger about fifty times to get back to the early days.
Managing the Chaos
Don't just look. Act.
If you're doing a "digital scrub," don't try to delete things one by one if there are thousands. YouTube doesn't offer a "Delete All Comments" button because they want that engagement data to stay in their ecosystem. You have to use the "X" on the My Activity page for each individual entry. Yes, it’s tedious. Yes, it’s a chore.
Interestingly, some third-party browser extensions claim to batch-delete comments. Be careful. Giving a random extension access to your Google Account is a massive security risk. Most of these tools work by "scripting" the clicks on the page. If you aren't tech-savvy, stick to the manual method. It’s safer.
The "Hold for Review" Mystery
You found the comment in your history. You clicked the link. You searched the video. But it’s not there.
Why?
Creators have massive power. They can set filters that automatically hide comments containing links, profanity, or specific keywords. Even if you see the comment in your history, it might be in a "Pending" state on the creator's end. It’s invisible to the world until the channel owner hits "Approve." This is why learning how to see your youtube comments is only half the battle; the other half is understanding that your history is a record of what you sent, not necessarily what the world saw.
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Actionable Steps for a Clean Profile
If you’re serious about managing your presence, do this once every few months:
- Audit your tone. Read your last 20 comments. Do you sound like someone you'd actually want to talk to? It’s easy to get aggressive in a comment section. Seeing them all in one list is a great way to realize if you're being a bit of a jerk online.
- Check for "Link Spam." If you’ve been hacked recently, hackers often use your account to post "Free Gift Card" links on popular videos. Your comment history is the fastest way to spot if your account is being used as a bot.
- Clear the junk. Delete comments on videos you no longer support. If a creator turns out to be a "bad actor," you don't want your engagement helping their metrics.
- Use the search function. On the Google My Activity page, there is a search bar at the top. Type in specific keywords to find that one specific argument or recommendation you made years ago. It’s much faster than scrolling.
Your digital history is exactly that—history. It's a living document of your interests and your growth. Navigating the menus to find it might be a pain, but staying in control of what you’ve put out into the world is worth the five minutes of clicking through settings menus. If you can't find a comment through the standard History tab, always default to the Google My Activity portal; it is the "Source of Truth" for your entire Google existence. Once you're in there, you have the power to delete, edit, or simply reflect on the thousands of thoughts you've shouted into the void of the internet.