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Comment moderation glossary

The words you meet when you manage comments on ads and posts, explained plainly, with what each one means for your comments.

Numbers

  • 24-hour messaging window

    Also called standard messaging window

    On Facebook and Instagram, a business can message a person freely for 24 hours after that person last messaged it (or took a similar action, like tapping a button in the chat). Outside the window, only specific message tags are allowed.

    A private reply to a comment does not open the window. Only when the person answers can the conversation continue.

    Read next: Human Agent tag, Comment to DM

    Checked against Meta for Developers: send messages

A

  • Ad account

    The account an advertiser uses to create, pay for and report on ads. Meta, TikTok and Google each have their own. Campaigns, ad sets (TikTok calls them ad groups) and ads all live inside one.

    Connecting an ad account is how a moderation tool learns which ad a comment came from, and on TikTok and Threads it is what brings ad comments in at all.

    Read next: Ad comments

  • Ad comments

    Comments left on a paid ad rather than on an ordinary post. Depending on the ad, they sit on a post you published, on a dark post nobody sees on your profile, or on a creator's post.

    Ads reach far more people than organic posts, so their comments are where most scams, spam and buying questions show up, often at hours when nobody is watching.

    Read next: Ad comments, Hiding comments on Facebook and Instagram ads

  • Advantage+ catalog ads

    Also called dynamic product ads, catalog ads

    Meta ads that pull products from your catalog and show each person the items most relevant to them, instead of one fixed image or video.

    On Facebook, comments on these ads can be read and moderated. On Instagram, Meta does not let tools list or load their comments, though new ones can still be hidden when Instagram reports them. Advantage+ catalog ads on Threads take no replies at all.

    Read next: CommentGate for Facebook and Instagram

    Checked against Meta for Developers: Advantage+ catalog ads

  • API

    Application programming interface: the documented way one piece of software asks another to do something. Every social platform decides what its API allows, and tools can only do what it allows.

    This is why the same action differs by platform: Facebook and Instagram let connected tools delete comments, while on TikTok, YouTube and Threads they hide or hold them instead.

    Read next: CommentGate for developers

  • App review

    The check a platform runs before an app may use a permission for people who do not work on that app. Meta, TikTok and Google each run their own, usually with a written use case and a screen recording.

    A tool that reads and hides your comments needs these permissions approved. When you connect an account, the permission screen you see lists what the tool may do.

    Checked against Meta for Developers: Threads, get started

B

  • Blocked words

    Also called blocklist, keyword blocklist

    A list of words or phrases that a platform or tool acts on automatically when they appear in a comment. On YouTube, matching comments are held for review. On TikTok ads, matching comments are hidden, with up to 500 words per ad account.

    Useful for words that are never okay under your posts, like a competitor's name or a scam phrase. A list alone misses misspellings and new tricks, so it works best alongside moderation that reads the whole comment.

    Read next: Comment filter, Scam protection

    Checked against YouTube Help: manage comment settings

  • Boosted post

    A post you already published that you pay to show to more people. Meta describes it as a quick way to create an ad from a post on your Page, with a chosen audience.

    A boosted post is still your post, so comments from the ad arrive on something your followers can also see. Expect a jump in comments, and in scams, the day a boost starts.

    Read next: Dark post, Ad comments

    Checked against Meta Business Help Center: about boosted posts

  • Brand safety

    Keeping a brand away from content that could harm its reputation: hate, scams, graphic material, misinformation. In advertising it usually means where ads appear; on your own posts it means what sits in your comments.

    Your comment section is content with your name on top. A scam link or a slur left under an ad is seen as part of the ad.

    Read next: The autopilot

  • Brand voice

    How a brand sounds when it writes: word choice, warmth, formality, humor. Consistent voice makes replies from different people on a team read like one brand.

    Read next: Replies in your voice, Reply templates

  • Branded content

    Also called paid partnership label

    Posts a creator publishes for a brand in exchange for payment or something of value, marked on Facebook and Instagram with a "Paid partnership" label.

    The post, and its comments, belong to the creator, so a brand usually needs the creator's cooperation to moderate them. Agree who watches the comments before the post goes live.

    Read next: Partnership ads

    Checked against Meta for Developers: partnership ads

  • Business Manager

    The name Meta used for the tool that held a company's Pages, ad accounts and people. It has been replaced by the business portfolio, managed in Meta Business Suite.

    Checked against Meta Business Help Center: about business portfolios

  • Business portfolio

    Meta's container for a business: its Facebook Pages, Instagram accounts, ad accounts, catalogs and the people allowed to work on them. It replaced Business Manager and is managed in Meta Business Suite settings.

    Agencies usually get access to a client's Pages and ad accounts through the client's business portfolio, which also decides who can connect them to other tools.

    Read next: CommentGate for agencies

    Checked against Meta Business Help Center: about business portfolios

C

  • Chargeback

    Also called payment dispute

    When a cardholder asks their bank to reverse a card payment, and the bank takes the money back from the merchant while it looks into the dispute.

    Threats of a chargeback sometimes land in public comments. Answer once, calmly, and take everything else to a private message.

    Read next: Chargeback and dispute reply templates

  • Comment bait

    Also called comment baiting

    Asking people to comment with a specific word, number, phrase or emoji to get more comments. Meta lists comment baiting as one kind of engagement bait and may show those posts to fewer people.

    Weigh this before building a post around "comment YES below". A keyword DM prompt tied to a real offer is common, but read Meta's guidelines and judge your own wording.

    Checked against Meta Transparency Center: engagement bait

  • Comment filter

    A built-in platform setting that hides or holds comments automatically: Instagram has Hidden Words, TikTok has keyword and comment filters in the app, YouTube holds potentially inappropriate comments at Basic or Strict levels.

    Filters work on their own, platform by platform, and each has its own rules. They are a good first layer, but they do not cover ads the same way everywhere, and they cannot learn what your brand considers spam.

    Read next: Blocked words, Every platform CommentGate covers

    Checked against YouTube Help: manage comment settings

  • Comment moderation

    Reading the comments on your posts and ads and deciding what to do with each: leave it, reply, hide it, delete it where the platform allows, or report it.

    Read next: The autopilot, Set up comment autopilot

  • Competitor mention

    A comment that names or links to a competing brand, often "get it cheaper at..." or a rival's account tagged under your ad.

    Under an ad you paid for, a competitor mention sends your buyers elsewhere. Many brands hide them; some prefer to answer ones that are honest questions.

    Read next: The autopilot

D

  • Dark post

    Also called unpublished post

    An ad that runs on a post created just for the ad, which never appears on your Page or profile. On Meta, creating an ad from new creative makes an unpublished Page post; Threads ads work the same way.

    Dark posts collect comments like any other post, but you will not find them by scrolling your Page. Without a tool that follows your ads, those comments are easy to miss for days.

    Read next: Ad comments, Hiding comments on Facebook and Instagram ads

    Checked against Meta for Developers: ad creative

  • Deleted comment

    A comment removed for everyone, including the person who wrote it. It cannot be brought back. Facebook and Instagram let business tools delete comments on a Page's or account's own posts. The tools TikTok and Threads offer businesses can hide other people's comments but not delete them, and on YouTube, removing a comment is permanent and separate from holding it.

    Hiding is usually the better choice: the problem disappears for everyone else, it can be undone, and the writer is not prompted to post it again.

    Read next: Hidden comment

E

F

  • False positive

    A comment wrongly flagged as a problem: a real customer's question hidden as spam, or a joke hidden as hate.

    For a brand, a false hide usually costs more than a missed spam comment, because it silences a buyer. Good moderation keeps uncertain comments for a person to check instead of guessing.

    Read next: How the autopilot learns from corrections

G

  • Giveaway scam

    A comment or message from a fake account, often copying a brand's name and photo, telling someone they won a prize and asking them to click a link, pay a "shipping fee" or share card details.

    These target the people who comment on your posts. Hide them fast, and tell your audience which account is really yours.

    Read next: Scam and fake giveaway comments, Scam protection

H

I

  • Impersonator

    Also called copycat account, fake brand account

    An account pretending to be your brand, or someone at it, usually with your name, logo and photos. Impersonators reply to your commenters with fake giveaways, fake support or fake discount links.

    Replies from impersonators look official to your customers. Hide them, report the account to the platform, and say in your replies which account is yours.

    Read next: Scam protection, Scam and fake giveaway comments

K

  • Keyword DM

    Also called comment to DM, comment-to-DM

    An automation that sends a direct message to anyone who comments a chosen word ("comment SIZE and we'll send you the chart"). On Facebook and Instagram it uses a private reply.

    It turns a comment into a conversation, but each commenter can get only one private reply per comment, and Meta's rules on comment bait apply to the post asking for the keyword.

    Read next: Comment to DM, Comment to DM launch playbook

  • Keyword reply

    An automatic public reply sent whenever a comment contains certain words, for example the size guide link under any comment that says "size".

    Handy for the most repeated questions. Vary the wording, and keep a person in the loop for anything a keyword could misread.

    Read next: Replies in your voice, Reply templates

L

M

  • MCP

    Also called Model Context Protocol

    An open standard for connecting AI assistants to tools and data, so an assistant can read and act on things like your comments with the permissions you grant.

    CommentGate has an MCP server: connect it to an assistant and ask it to find, summarize or act on comments across your brands.

    Read next: CommentGate for developers, Integrations and API

    Checked against Model Context Protocol

N

  • Nested reply

    A reply to a reply, shown indented under the comment it answers.

    Business tools often work only at the top level: on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube they reply under top-level comments, and on Threads they hide top-level replies (hiding one hides its nested replies too).

    Read next: Top-level comment

    Checked against Meta for Developers: Threads reply management

O

  • Organic post

    A post published to your profile or Page without paying to promote it. Its comments come mostly from followers.

    Organic comments tend to be friendlier and slower than ad comments. A post that becomes an ad (boosted or used in a Spark Ad) gets both.

    Read next: Boosted post

P

  • Partnership ads

    Meta ads that run from a creator's or other partner's handle, so the ad carries the creator's voice. They are usually what people mean by whitelisting on Facebook and Instagram.

    The comments may sit on a post that belongs to the creator. Agree up front who watches them, and ask the creator to connect their account if you are responsible for moderating.

    Read next: Branded content, Influencer and partnership reply templates

    Checked against Meta for Developers: partnership ads

  • Phishing comment

    A comment designed to get someone to give away a password, card number or login, usually through a link to a fake page that looks like a platform, a bank or your store.

    These often target the page owner too ("your Page will be disabled, verify here"). Never log in through a link in a comment.

    Read next: Scam protection

  • Placement

    Where an ad appears: Facebook Feed, Instagram Stories, Reels, Threads, TikTok's For You feed, YouTube Shorts and so on. One campaign can run in many placements at once.

    Some placements take no comments at all (Instagram Stories), and each placement collects its own. One ad can have comments in several places.

  • Private reply

    A direct message sent by a Facebook Page or Instagram professional account to someone who commented on its post. Meta allows one message per comment, sent within 7 days of the comment. On Facebook, the message links back to the comment.

    Useful for anything that should not be public: order details, a discount, a sizing chart. The conversation can only continue if the person replies.

    Read next: Comment to DM, 24-hour messaging window

    Checked against Meta for Developers: private replies

R

  • Reply template

    Also called saved reply, canned response

    A pre-written reply with blanks for the details, used for questions that come up again and again.

    Templates keep answers consistent and fast. Personalize them with the person's name and situation so they do not read as copy-paste.

    Read next: Free reply templates

S

  • Sentiment

    Whether a comment is positive, negative or neutral in tone. Sentiment analysis sorts comments this way automatically.

    Negative is not the same as harmful. A disappointed customer deserves an answer, not a hide; sentiment is most useful for spotting an ad or product that suddenly draws unhappy comments.

    Read next: Reports and alerts

  • Shadow ban

    An informal term for the belief that a platform quietly limits who sees an account's posts without saying so. Platforms do not use the phrase. What they do describe is reduced distribution: Meta shows fewer people some kinds of content, such as engagement bait, and Instagram's Account Status tells professional accounts whether their content can be recommended to non-followers.

    Hiding a comment on your own post affects that comment on your post. It is not a platform penalty on the person who wrote it.

    Read next: Engagement bait

    Checked against Instagram: Account Status

  • Shorts (YouTube)

    YouTube's short vertical videos. Comments on a Short, including on a Short that runs as an ad, appear in its ordinary comment section.

    Shorts ads can drive a sudden wave of comments on a video from your channel. They are moderated the same way as the rest of the channel.

    Read next: YouTube Shorts comment moderation, CommentGate for YouTube

  • Social proof

    The reassurance people take from seeing others use, praise or ask about a product. Comments are a big part of it on social ads.

    Answered questions and happy customers under an ad sell. Unanswered complaints and scam links do the opposite.

    Read next: "Is this legit?" reply templates

  • Spam

    Unwanted, repeated or off-topic comments posted in bulk: link drops, "check my profile", promo pages, crypto pitches, bot replies.

    Spam buries real questions and makes a brand look unattended. It is the most common thing brands hide.

    Read next: Scam protection

  • Spark Ads

    TikTok ads that promote an existing organic TikTok post, from your account or a creator's who authorizes it. TikTok attributes the views, comments, shares, likes and follows from the ad to the original post.

    Because the ad is the post, comments from the ad land on the organic post and stay there after the campaign ends.

    Read next: CommentGate for TikTok, TikTok comment moderation for brands

    Checked against TikTok Ads Help Center: Spark Ads

T

  • Threads ads

    Ads shown in Meta's Threads app, created in Meta Ads Manager. A Threads ad is never an existing Threads post: it is created as an unpublished post, or promotes a Facebook or Instagram post, and replies on the ad stay on the ad.

    Replies to Threads ads can be hidden and answered when the ad runs from a real Threads profile. Advantage+ catalog ads on Threads take no replies.

    Read next: CommentGate for Threads

    Checked against Meta for Developers: Threads ads

  • Top-level comment

    A comment made directly on a post, rather than a reply to another comment.

    On Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, business tools can only reply under top-level comments, so that is where a brand's replies usually go.

    Read next: Nested reply

  • Troll

    Someone who comments to provoke a reaction rather than to say anything useful.

    Do not argue in public. Hide abuse, ignore the bait, and answer any genuine point once.

    Read next: Reply templates for public complaints

U

  • UGC

    Also called user-generated content

    Content made by customers or creators rather than the brand: reviews, unboxings, try-on videos, photos. Brands often run UGC as ads.

    UGC ads draw questions aimed at the person in the video ("what size are you wearing?"). Answer as the brand, kindly, with the facts.

    Read next: Spark Ads

W

  • Webhook

    A message a platform sends to another app the moment something happens, like a new comment, instead of that app having to keep asking. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Threads offer comment webhooks; YouTube does not, so tools check YouTube on a timer.

    Webhooks are why a comment on Facebook or Instagram can be handled within seconds, while YouTube comments are checked about every 5 minutes.

    Read next: CommentGate for developers, Every platform CommentGate covers

  • Whitelisting

    Also called creator licensing

    Industry slang for a creator giving a brand permission to run ads from the creator's account. On Meta this is done with partnership ads; on TikTok, with a Spark Ads authorization.

    The ad's comments belong to a post on the creator's account, so settle who moderates them before the ad goes live.

    Read next: Spark Ads, Influencer and partnership reply templates