Comments in a Telegram channel

How to enable comments on a Telegram channel

1. Open your channel and go to its settings: on a phone tap the channel name and then "Edit" or "Manage"; on a computer open the channel's management menu.
2. Choose "Discussion".
3. Create a new group or pick an existing one.
4. Confirm the link.

Menu wording differs a little between apps and versions, but the route is the same: channel settings, then Discussion, then the group. Telegram itself writes "Channel Settings > Discussion" in its announcement of channel comments.

Good to know:

• Each new channel post is automatically forwarded to the discussion group and pinned there. The conversation happens under that forwarded copy (Telegram API documentation).
• People who are not members of the group can still comment. They get replies to their comments in a separate chat called "Replies".
• Admins can require people to join the group before they are allowed to write.
• The discussion chat has to be a supergroup, according to the Telegram documentation.

How to turn off comments

For the whole channel. Open the channel settings, go to "Discussion" and unlink the group. The comment button disappears from the posts and nobody can write new comments. The group itself and the old messages in it stay.

Under a single post. Open the discussion group, find the automatic copy of that post and delete it. That post then has no comments. Telegram's own documentation describes exactly this method (core.telegram.org).

There is no built-in "turn comments off for this post only" switch; users have asked for one in Telegram's suggestions tracker.

How to delete a comment

• Your own comment. Tap it and choose "Delete".
• Someone else's comment. A group admin who has the right to delete messages can remove it. Open the comment, choose "Delete", and if needed ban or restrict the author in the group.
• Many messages at once. Do it in the discussion group: select the messages and delete them together.

To keep comments tidy, write rules for the group, add moderators and give them only the permissions they need. Admin permissions, including deleting messages and banning members, are set in the group's settings (permission reference).

Why there are no comments under a post

Check in this order:

1. No group is linked. The "Discussion" item in the channel settings has no group selected.
2. The post's copy was deleted from the group. If an admin removed it from the discussion chat, that post has no comments.
3. The post has buttons under it. In practice, posts with inline buttons do not show comments.
4. You are not allowed to write in the group. Admins may have restricted you or require you to join first.
5. The app is out of date. Update Telegram and check from another device.

A giveaway among the commenters of a post

Comments can turn into a Stars giveaway. In the Shiba Bank bot it is called "Post giveaway". The bot announces a giveaway in the discussion chat, and each commenter gets one ticket however much they write. The sponsor and bots do not take part. At the set time the bot draws winners at random and sends them Stars from the sponsor's wallet. It works only where comments are on, that is, where a group is linked to the channel. The bot does not start a giveaway under a post that has buttons, because such a post has no comments.

To set it up, add the bot to the discussion chat, then in your private chat with the bot open "👛 Wallet" → "🔥 Chat drops" → "⚙️ My chats", pick the chat and the "📣 Post giveaway" section. There you set the prize, the number of winners, the duration and the minimum comment length; the Stars are paid by the sponsor whose wallet is confirmed in the chat's settings. More about giveaways: a Stars giveaway in a channel, Stars drops in chats and the page for chats.

Frequently asked questions