Fixes For “Comment Failed To Post” Error On YouTube

Written by Oliver in YouTube Help

This is quite a common problem with YouTube users. I’ve run into it recently, which is why I decided to create a post on it.

You can be fine posting comments on YouTube most of the time, but then sometimes you might get this strange error message in red writing below the comment saying “comment failed to post”:

You can try re-posting and re-posting, but nothing works and the comment won’t publish. What’s going on here? What causes this problem and how can we fix it?

The “comment failed to post” error most often appears when a VPN is detected by YouTube. The most common fix for this error is to simply disable a VPN if you are using one, or use a better one that cannot be so easily detected. Alternatively, you can try reloading and restarting your browser/app, disabling ad blockers, clearing your cache and following YouTube’s guidelines for posting comments.

Now let’s run through first rapid fire solutions, and then more in depth ones to fix this error. In my experience, it’s most often related to a VPN, so go to this solution first if relevant to you.

Quick Things To Try To Fix “Comment Failed To Post” Error

Let’s start with a few simple quick things to try that can sometimes fix this problem:

  • Refresh the page by hitting the circular “reload/refresh” icon (↺) in your browser
  • Close and relaunch your browser completely if using one
  • Try another browser
  • Close and relaunch the YouTube app if using it.
  • Try posting a comment on another video to see if the problem is just on one video/channel, or across all of YouTube.

But honestly, these solutions are easy and quick to try but may not work, so let’s move on to some more in depth fixes, starting with the ones that seem to most commonly cause this problem.

Fix #1 – Disable Your VPN Connection

Whenever I’ve had this problem, this is what’s going on – I’m using a VPN and YouTube is detecting this and blocking the posting of comments on all videos. It’s weird because I can still log into my account fine using the same VPN, and even like videos, but I can’t comment.

YouTube is probably wary of spam comments being generated from VPN connections, or accounts being hacked and is therefore more cautious about allowing such comments.

This might be especially so if you’re using a VPN server location a long way away from your usual/regular login locations for Google/YouTube.

Usually, if you just disable the VPN connection, you can then post a comment without any issues again. You may need to refresh the page to get it to work.

Fix #2 – Use a Better VPN

It’s important to follow up on the last point by saying that this error doesn’t occur with all VPNs, only some poorer quality ones. I run a separate VPN blog and have therefore been able to test this, and some VPNs still work fine posting YouTube comments.

Therefore, if you’re not happy with the idea of disabling a VPN connection and would rather keep using it for privacy/security, you might have to upgrade to a better one that uses better obfuscation and therefore can’t yet be detected by YouTube.

Some good options here are:

  • ProtonVPN (offer good free version, with unlimited use and 3 free locations).
  • PrivadoVPN – excellent free version with 14 locations that’s always worked fine for me posting YouTube comments (but with a 10 GB data cap).
  • ZoogVPN – another free VPN that’s always worked fine for me with YouTube (but with a 10 GB/month data cap)
  • Any other top range, credible, longstanding Premium VPN like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Private Internet Access, that uses strong obfuscation protocols.

And stay away from these types of VPN when using YouTube:

  • Don’t use cheap, tacky, low quality free VPNs
  • Don’t use browser add on VPNs or “proxies”
  • Don’t use AVG VPN (I always have this YouTube error using this program, and it’s a mediocre VPN in general)
  • Any other lesser known VPN with mediocre or poor reviews and poor server obfuscation.

You can absolutely still use a VPN and post comments on YouTube; it just needs to be a halfway decent VPN and not a poor quality one.

Fix #3 – Make Sure You’re Not Violating YouTube Guidelines

This is another possible reason why users can get temporarily or permanently blocked from posting comments. Make sure you’re not breaking any YouTube guidelines regarding the regularity, length and nature of comments of you post.

Here are some things that can leave you falling foul of YouTube’s guidelines if include them too much (or at all) in your comments, and can lead to you being blocked from posting comments:

  • Swear words
  • Politically sensitive words or topics.
  • Racially, ethnically or religiously offensive words.
  • Anything to do with adult material.
  • Some words to do with violence
  • Some words to do with terrorism or events.
  • Some words to with self harm.
  • You include links to external websites.
  • You include links to other YouTube videos.
  • You include contact details (emails, phone number, Whatsapp etc).

And then certain general behaviors and trends in the nature of your comments, that may get you blocked if you do them too often:

  • You use certain words that indicate you are trying to promote or sell something, and this includes prices of something like $100 etc. Even if you’re not selling it yourself and are just describing something for readers for their own info, and put prices in there, it can get deleted.
  • You’re posting too many comments on too many videos.
  • You’re posting very long, rambling essay style comments (often get deleted).
  • You use certain words that indicate scamming or deceptive practices.
  • There’s a lot of jumbled, nonsensical garbage in the comment.
  • You’re posting
  • There is poor spelling and grammar in the comment.
  • You’re abusing other people in the comments.
  • See YouTube’s Community Guidelines page for more on things they look out for.

It’s very easy to inadvertently break some of these rules sometimes, but the algorithm doesn’t account for that.

YouTube comments are often deleted automatically if they break the guidelines, and if too many of these comments are detected coming from one user, your entire account may be put in “time-out” and you can’t post any comments at all for a while.

Fix #4 – Clear Your Browser Cache

Another possible fix for this problem that can work, but only occasionally, is to clear your browser cache, and then try refreshing the page.

Here’s easy steps to do this for all major browsers:

  • Chrome – Click the 3 dots Settings icon in the top right corner, then go to More Tools…Clear browsing data, and then select the time range and make sure “cached images and data” is selected and clear.
  • Firefox – Click on the 3 lines burger icon in the top right, then go to History….Clear recent history, make sure Cache box is checked, and then clear data.
  • Opera – Click on the red Opera “O” symbol in the top left corner, then go to History….Clear Browsing Data. Make sure “cached images and files” is checked and confirm to clear all cached data.
  • Brave – Click the 3 lines burger icon in the top right corner, then go to Settings…History…Clear Browsing Data. Select your preferred options and time range, but make sure that “cached images and files” is checked, and clear the data.
  • Safari – Go to “Safari” in the top left corner, then go to Clear History. Select the time range and confirm to clear all data including the cache.
  • Edge – Click on the 3 dots icon in the top right corner, and then go to History…Clear Browsing Data. Make sure “cached images and files” is checked, select the time frame and confirm to delete all data.

“Ctrl + H” is also a common shortcut for many browsers to bring up browsing history directly, from where you can delete cached data.

See here for an illustrated guide on clearing the cache on all major browsers.

Fix #5 – Disable Any Ad Blockers & Extensions

This is another possible cause, but again it’s much rarer. It can sometimes be an Ad blocker or other extension that interferes with the way your browser interacts with YouTube, preventing comments from being posted.

To fix this, try the following:

  • Go to your browser’s Extensions or Add-Ons menu, usually from the Settings/Options menu (3 dots or 3 lines icon).
  • Disable or delete any ad-blocker extensions and try posting comments again on YouTube
  • If that doesn’t work, try also disabling all extensions and posting again.
  • Alternatively, some browsers have an option to disable ad blockers from within their settings menu separately. Try the Security or Privacy tab to see if there’s a toggle switch to turn off ad-blocker temporarily, and try posting comments again.

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