Brands urged to tackle rise of toxic online comments

Advertisers might have been spooked by Meta’s decision to loosen content moderation but many are failing to keep their own house in order, with spikes in spam, abuse and toxicity in their own comments section – across multiple platforms – diminishing campaign performance even threatening reputational damage.

So says the 2025 Social Media Comment Insights Report from Respondology, which analysed first-party comment data – 118.4 million comments from 734,500 posts across more than 450 brands – from Meta (Facebook and Instagram), TikTok, and YouTube between January and December 2024.

According to the research, nearly one-third (30%) of Meta Ads comments were hidden due to spam or toxicity. A whopping 44% of comments on TikTok Ads had to be hidden for the same reasons.

The report also exposes volatile seasonal spikes: Black History Month (February) saw a 21% increase in racist and discriminatory remarks, Pride Month (June) saw a 26% rise in homophobic and transphobic comments, and Election Season (October-November) saw political and personal attacks surge by 34%.

The busiest day in 2024 was Monday July 15, when some18,000 posts were moderated as Israel besieged Gaza City and Argentina won the Copa America final – shortly after the Trump assassination attempt, the Euros final, and the Wimbledon final.

Meanwhile, 57.5% of all comments hidden in 2024 were due to spam, with 23% of people saying they had interacted with spam before realising what it was. AI-generated spam increased by 25% in the past year, making detection even harder.

The report warns that fake promotions, phishing links, and engagement manipulation erode trust, drive away real customers, and lower ad performance.

Ironically, Sunday is the prime day for posting, when marketing teams are off for the weekend. This day saw the highest number of comments made (20.1 million) and comments hidden (3.2 million), putting brands without moderation in place at high risk. Comment toxicity also spikes by 10% after 5pm when many marketing teams are about to log off.

The report claims that with moderation in place, return on ad spend (ROAS) increased by 7.35% on Meta and 17.6% on TikTok. Cost per click (CPC) for brands decreased by 33% on Meta and 3.7% on TikTok with moderation in place. Brands that actively moderated their ad comment sections saw better engagement, higher conversion rates, and stronger brand perception.

Respondology CEO and co-founder Erik Swain said: “The comment section is where brand loyalty is built, products are sold, crises are created, and viral moments are born.

“Too often, brands forget the revenue opportunities hidden in comment sections and fail to protect their communities from spam and hateful comments.”