Yahoo News temporarily removes comment section in website, says it is to improve “community experience”

Readers are no longer allowed to write their comments on stories published by Yahoo News on its website. The media outlet has temporarily suspended commenting on its articles as it wants to improve its community experience.

“Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passion,” it said in its website.

It added, “In order to improve our community experience, we are temporarily suspending article commenting. In the meantime, we welcome your feedback to help us enhance the experience.”

While netizens can still comment on the news site’s articles on its official Facebook page, most of its readers tend to comment in the article section as it provides a certain level of anonymity.

TOC has reached out to Yahoo News to find out why they have disabled the comment function in their website.

In the past, comments on the news site by the netizens have been anonymous and mostly critical of the establishment.

In Singapore, other major mainstream news sites like Channel News Asia, TODAYonline, and The Straits Time have had their comments sections removed. Even non-MSM such as popular news sites like Mothership also removed its comment section.

What all these sites that have removed their comments section have in common is that they are media accredited by the Singapore Government.

Update: In response to our query, a Yahoo spokesperson wrote, “We are temporarily suspending comments on Yahoo articles globally in order to prioritize and strengthen our community and engagement with our audience. Our goal has been and will always be to create a safe, engaging place to connect our community to their interests and passions.”