There are some YouTube channels that you don’t ever want to see. Perhaps they produce low-quality, clickbait content, or the creator’s views don’t align with yours. Whatever the case, don’t let channels that you don’t want to see on your YouTube feed.

How to Block a YouTube Channel

Strictly speaking, you can’t completely block a YouTube channel as a viewer (though we’ll use the term “block” for this guide). Instead, using a built-in option, you can stop it from appearing in your recommendations and on your feed. However, this doesn’t stop you from seeing the channel elsewhere, like in search results or external sites.

When you block a YouTube channel, it’s applied at an account level to improve your YouTube recommendations. If you block a channel on your computer, it’s automatically blocked on your mobile.

Remember, no one else will know that you’ve blocked a channel. This includes the channel owner—they receive no notification, and it doesn’t appear in their statistics. It also doesn’t display anywhere on your channel (if you have one).

There are two ways to block YouTube channels: using YouTube’s built-in option or using a third-party extension, BlockTube.

Block a Channel Using YouTube’s Built-In Feature

Follow the instructions below to block a YouTube channel using YouTube’s built-in feature. These instructions apply to both the YouTube website and the YouTube mobile app.

1. If you’re not already, sign in to your YouTube account.
2. Find a video from a channel you want to block on the YouTube homepage (this won’t work from another page).
3. Click or tap the three vertical dots next to the video title.
4. Select Don’t recommend channel.
5. If you made a mistake, select Undo.

When you block a channel with YouTube’s built-in feature, it only applies to your home feed. So, the channel you blocked may still show up in your YouTube search results.

Block a Channel Using the BlockTube Chrome Extension

BlockTube is a more robust method because it applies filters across YouTube in your browser, including in YouTube search results. Here’s how to use BlockTube to block any YouTube channel:

1. Install the BlockTube Chrome extension to your browser (we have a guide on installing a browser extension if you need help).
2. Click the Extensions icon in Chrome’s top bar to see all your installed extensions.
3. Select BlockTube from the list to view its settings. Chrome will take you to a dedicated page with BlockTube’s settings.
4. Under Filter options, click Channel name.
5. In the empty input box, enter the name of the channel you’d like to block. You can add multiple channels, each name on its own line.
6. Once done, click the Save button.

Alternatively, you can use BlockTube to block a YouTube channel directly on YouTube’s desktop site because it automatically adds a Block channel option once installed.

Once installed, refresh YouTube. Then, from your YouTube homepage, click the three vertical dots next to a video from a channel you’d like to block, and then select Block channel. You can also search for the channel you’d like to block, click the three vertical dots adjacent to any video from the channel, and then select Block channel.

Using BlockTube, you can stop a channel from appearing across YouTube. The catch is it only works if you use the same browser where the extension is installed. If you use a different browser, your BlockTube channel block list won’t be applied unless you install the extension to that browser and then copy and paste your list of blocked channels. Additionally, it doesn’t work on mobile.

How to Unblock a YouTube Channel

Unfortunately, unless you select Undo immediately after blocking a channel, you can’t individually unblock, nor can you see a list of channels you’ve blocked if you use YouTube’s built-in feature. Instead, you have to clear your recommendation history, which unblocks everything.

Follow the steps below to unblock all your YouTube channels. However, note that this may result in YouTube recommending videos from channels you’ve previously blocked, so use it with caution.

1. Navigate to your My Google Activity page.
2. On the left menu, click Other activity.
3. Beneath YouTube ‘Not interested’ feedback, click Delete.
4. Click Delete again to confirm.

If you used BlockTube to block a channel, click Chrome’s Extensions icon in the top bar and select BlockTube. On the extension’s settings page, select Channel name, then remove the name of the specific channel you wish to unblock from the list and click Save.

If you used the Block channel option that BlockTube adds to a video’s context menu, select Channel ID instead of Channel Name in the Filter options, then remove the ID of the blocked channel and click Save.

YouTube’s recommendation algorithm gets a lot right but also gets it wrong. Sometimes, you watch one video and get plastered with endless recommendations for that channel. But what if you didn’t like it? Cut the noise out, block the channel, and improve your YouTube experience tenfold.