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As one of the most popular streaming platforms, Twitch can have tens of thousands of viewers chatting on a single channel. The chat boxes can easily become littered with spam, harassment, and inappropriate comments. This is why it's crucial for moderators to keep things in line by deleting certain messages.

How To Delete a Single Message in Twitch

Until recently, Twitch didn't have an option to delete a single message on a channel. Instead, you could either ban a particular user from a channel or give them a 'timeout' which would delete a string of their messages.

Now, moderators finally have a way to delete a single message, and this article will explain all the necessary steps.

How to Delete a Single Message on Twitch

Deleting a single message in Twitch chat is pretty straightforward, but there are a couple of steps you'll need to follow first for it to work.

Before you can use the 'Delete message' function, you need to enable mod icons. These icons allow moderators to quickly perform moderation actions on the channel.

Step 1: Enable Mod Icons

To enable mod icons, you need to have moderator status on that particular channel. Then you should:

Click on the Settings icon on the bottom-left side of the chat box.
Scroll to the Mod Tools section.
Tick the Mod Icons box to enable the option.

When you enable mod icons, you should be able to see all the moderating tools in the chat box.

Step 2: Deleting the Message

With the mod icons available, you will be able to instantly delete any single message with a simple click. Follow these steps:

Locate the message that you want to delete in the chat.
Click the Delete Message icon (trash can) on the left side of the username.
The message should automatically disappear.

If you want to view the message, you can press '<click to show>' next to the message deletion alert.

Alternative Ways to Delete Messages in Twitch

There is also a command called 'timeout' which Twitch can be used to delete user messages.

The main problem with the timeout option is that it deletes more than a single message from a user. So, for example, if a channel blacklists certain words, typing those phrases in chat means that you would get put in timeout. As a result, you could unknowingly type a certain word and all your messages would get deleted.

A way to bypass this issue is to timeout a certain user just for one second. This will leave most of the previous messages intact, delete their last message, and stop them from writing for a certain period of time.

To remove a user's comment without deleting anything else or without banning them, you should type:

/timeout [username] 1s [reason]

So, for example, you can type:

/timeout user123 1s spamming

This will delete the previous message, timeout the user, and keep the reason in the log. The message will be replaced with a <message deleted> alert. Any moderator can click on this alert to display it.

Can Other Users See Deleted Comments in VODs?

No, other users cannot see deleted comments while watching Twitch videos on demand (VODs). While you watch VODs, the comments appear at the same time they would appear during the live broadcast.

An alert about the message being deleted will appear but it will not display the content.

Can I Remove a Message Before Anyone Sees It?

The recent Chat Delay feature allows Twitch moderators to delay the chat for other users for a short amount of time. This can help moderators remove harassing and other inappropriate messages before the other users see them.

This feature also removes the <message deleted> alert so it doesn't display in the chat box.

How to Enable Chat Delay in Twitch

To enable the Chat Delay option as a moderator:

Go to the Moderation Settings page on Twitch.
Find Non-Mod Chat Delay under the Chat Options section.
Choose the amount of time that you want to delay the chat.

You can choose between a two, four, or six-second delay. This should give you and other moderators enough time to keep the chat box tidy.

Keep Order in the Chat

Now that you have all the required tools, your Twitch channel can remain free of harassment, inappropriate language, and spam. You don't need to ban users or delete any messages but the offending ones.

You can also delay chat to prevent any inconvenient situations. And if you take a moment to warn users to behave appropriately before things spiral out of control, you might not need to remove them from your community.

What is your approach to community members who toe the line of acceptable behavior? If you've ever been a moderator, on Twitch or elsewhere, please tell us your experiences below.