Removing Comments from YouTube

Summary

Setting up the Smoothwall to remove comments from YouTube.

Problem

Guardian Comments on Youtube can often contain material that is not deemed appropriate, therefore you may wish to remove them.

Solution

Please note: This solution relies on the content modification 'Youtube comment removal'. This, however, is not needed if the content modifications 'Youtube restricted mode' or Youtube safety mode cookie' are enabled as Youtube restricted mode removes all comments. This solution is most appropriate for customers who do not use GSuite for Education.

Note: YouTube now redirects all users to HTTPS, so in order to ensure that your content modification policies are working correctly make sure you have configured a Decrypt and Inspect HTTPS interception policy. You will also need the decryption certificate installed on the devices' browsers as a root trusted certificate. You can export the certificate from Guardian > HTTPS inspection > Settings.

  1. Ensure you have not created any Whitelist web filter policies for the YouTube category as whitelisting bypasses the content modification rules, see our help topic, Managing web filter policies.
  2. Ensure you have not created any Ignore content modification policies for the YouTube category see our help topic, Managing content modification policies.
  3. Create a content modification policy for the YouTube category that applies the YouTube Comment Removal see our help topic, Creating content modification policies.
  4. Ensure the YouTube category is added to your Decrypt and inspect HTTPS inspection policy see our help topic, Managing HTTPS inspection policies.

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