How to Block a YouTube Channel: What Works and What Doesn't

To stop a YouTube channel showing up in your feed, open the three-dot menu on one of its videos and choose "Don't recommend channel". To hide it completely on a computer, use a browser extension like BlockTube, because YouTube has no setting that hides a channel's videos from you. YouTube's own "Block user" sounds like the answer but isn't: it stops a channel's comments, live chat messages and mentions from reaching you, while its videos keep showing up. Below is what each option really does, how parents can block a channel for a child, and what fits when the real problem is your own drifting.

How do you stop a YouTube channel showing up in your feed?

Use "Don't recommend channel". On any of that channel's videos in your home feed or suggestions, open the three-dot menu and choose Don't recommend channel. YouTube stops suggesting that channel to you. It doesn't block anything: search still finds the channel, its page still loads, and the setting only applies while you're signed in. You can undo it later if you change your mind.

"Don't recommend channel" vs "Not interested"

Both live in the same three-dot menu. "Not interested" tells YouTube that one video doesn't appeal to you. "Don't recommend channel" goes further and asks YouTube to stop suggesting the whole channel. If a channel keeps coming back, you want the second one.

Pausing or clearing your watch history

Recommendations lean heavily on your watch history, so a channel you binged last week keeps coming back until the evidence is gone. Clearing your watch history, or pausing it while you work, removes that signal. It's a blunt reset: you lose suggestions you might have liked, and it does nothing about search or autoplay. Paired with "Don't recommend channel", though, it's the closest YouTube's own settings get to muting a channel.

How do you hide a YouTube channel completely?

YouTube has no built-in way for an ordinary account to hide a channel's videos from itself. On a computer, a browser extension fills the gap. BlockTube, a free and open source extension for Chrome and Firefox, lets you block channels by name so their videos stop appearing in that browser, recommendations included. Its developer says your block list stays on your computer. The limit is that it only covers the browser you install it in, so it does nothing on your phone or in a second browser.

What does YouTube's "Block user" actually do?

It's a social tool, not a content filter: it controls who can talk to you, not what YouTube shows you. To use it on a computer, open the channel's page, open its About details, click Report user (the flag), and choose Block user. In the YouTube app on Android or iPhone, open the channel's page, tap More (the three dots), and choose Block user. YouTube moves these menus around between versions, so if you don't see Block, look under Report.

According to YouTube's help page on blocking, once you block a channel, its comments, live chat messages and mentions stop reaching you. If you run a channel yourself, you can still see their comments in YouTube Studio. Blocking someone on YouTube also blocks their account in other Google products, which surprises a lot of people. To undo it, go to myaccount.google.com/blocklist.

What it doesn't do is hide their videos. They still appear in search, in your recommendations and on their channel page, and autoplay can still roll into them from a related video. So if you blocked a channel to stop drifting into it, use the feed and extension options above instead.

How do parents block a YouTube channel for a child?

This is where YouTube's blocks are real blocks, because the parent holds the key rather than the person watching.

Supervised accounts on YouTube

Sign in with your linked parent account, open the channel's page, open its About details, click Report user and choose Block channel for kids, an option that only appears for a linked parent account. In the app, open the channel's page, tap More, then Block channel for kids. Pick which child it applies to, and you're done. Per YouTube's help page for parents, the block covers only that channel's own uploads, not reuploads on other channels or similar channels. If your child uses the same Google account for YouTube Kids, the block carries over there too. To undo it, open the same option and choose Unblock, or use Unblock videos in Family Center to clear everything at once.

YouTube Kids

In the YouTube Kids app, tap More next to a video and choose Block this video. To block the whole channel, open the video, tap More, tap Block, and choose to block the entire channel. Either way, you confirm with a passcode. For the tightest control, YouTube Kids also has an approved content only setting, where your child sees only what you've picked.

What should you do when you're the one drifting?

If you're blocking a channel to protect your own focus, every option above is a speed bump you control: search still finds the channel, a signed-out window skips your account settings, and time blindness turns one video into ten before you notice. Channel blocks work best when someone else holds the key.

So match the tool to how your drift actually looks. If one channel is the problem, "Don't recommend channel" plus an extension like BlockTube covers most of it. If it's YouTube in general, block or limit the whole site. Full-site blockers like Freedom and Cold Turkey can do that on a schedule. Hawser can block or time-limit YouTube too ("block YouTube after 20 minutes"), and because the block works at the system level, a private window doesn't get around it. Or you can leave YouTube open: Hawser watches what you're actually doing against what you said you'd do, so a tutorial for the task at hand isn't treated like a binge, and it checks in when you drift. A blocker can't tell a 10 hour work day from a 10 hour binge. Hawser can.

Where Hawser falls short

Hawser blocks whole sites, not single channels inside YouTube, and it watches your Windows PC, not your phone. Pair it with "Don't recommend channel" for the specific channels, and with your phone's own screen time settings for the phone. The guide to blocking YouTube while working compares the other ways to do it, and the free screen time calculator shows what those hours add up to.

How do you stop a channel commenting on your videos?

If you're a creator, there's one more meaning of "block a channel": keeping someone out of your comments. In YouTube Studio, open the comment, click the three-dot menu, and choose Hide user from channel. Per YouTube's help page on hiding users, their comments, live chat messages and community posts stop appearing on your channel, and they aren't notified. You can remove them from your hidden users list later if you change your mind. Like Block user, this doesn't take their videos out of your own feed.

Frequently asked questions

How do I stop a channel showing up in my YouTube feed?

Open the three-dot menu on one of its videos in your feed and choose Don't recommend channel. YouTube stops suggesting it, though search and the channel page still work. To hide it everywhere in your browser on a computer, add it to an extension like BlockTube.

Does blocking a YouTube channel hide its videos?

No. Blocking stops that channel's comments, live chat messages and mentions from reaching you, and blocks the account in other Google products too. Their videos still show up in search, in recommendations and on their channel. To hide the videos, use Don't recommend channel, a browser extension like BlockTube, or a supervised account if it's for a child.

Does blocking someone on YouTube notify them?

YouTube's help pages don't mention sending a notification when you block someone. For creators who hide a user from their channel, the answer is explicit: the user isn't notified.

How do I unblock a YouTube channel?

Go to myaccount.google.com/blocklist and remove the person from your blocked list. If you blocked a channel for a child as a parent, open the same Block channel for kids option and choose Unblock, or use Unblock videos in Family Center to clear every block at once.

Can you block multiple YouTube channels at once?

Not with YouTube's own tools, which work one channel at a time. On a computer, the BlockTube extension keeps a list of blocked channels and supports patterns that match many at once. If your drift spans lots of channels, blocking or limiting all of YouTube is simpler.