Analysis of 169 million comments exposes the gap between where brands are and where they need to be on social in the age of AI discovery.

Respondology, the pioneering leader in social media comment moderation and intelligence and creator of the industry’s first completely AI-powered platform for social comments, published the 2026 Business of Comments Report. Drawing on data from 168.8 million social media comments across 7.6 million social media posts in 2025, the report reveals that one in five (20%) comments contain some form of spam, bot activity, or abuse, revealing both the scale of the challenge and the size of the opportunity.

“The data is unambiguous. Toxic and spammy comments are a brand problem,” said Erik Swain, CEO and Co-founder of Respondology. “But the opportunity is just as significant. With LLMs now drawing from social comment sections for AI search results, a healthy community is both a trust signal and discoverability driver. Brands that act on this will turn their comment sections into their most underrated competitive advantage.”

The comments analyzed in the report represent seven leading platforms — Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, and Threads — and include a mix of paid and organic social posts from sports teams, retail brands, technology companies, non-profit organizations, and others.

Findings from the 2026 Business of Comments Report include:

• Toxic comments are the status quo: Across 168.8 million social media comments, less than half (47.3%) register with positive sentiment and 23.5% carry some form of negativity. Nearly half of consumers (47%) associate negative comments with the brand itself, demonstrating the risks of letting toxic environments fester.
  
• Paid media is nearly 2x more toxic than organic. Spam, piracy, and bot comments on paid posts drive conversion down by 14.7% and CTR down by 11.3%. TikTok Ads and Meta Ads ranked as the most toxic environments in 2025, with hide rates of 38.4% and 34.1%, respectively.
  
• Spam and bot comments present a relentless threat: Spam and bots account for 41.8% of comments hidden by brands and organizations. Of those comments, one in 10 contain an active fraud or piracy attempt. More than 80% of spam comments on sports accounts lead to illegal streaming or ticketing fraud sites.
  
• Major events correspond with spikes in toxic comments: Social media activity aligns closely with cultural events. When Bad Bunny was announced as the Super Bowl halftime performer, comment volume increased by 36.9% — including a 22.7% increase in racist comments. Two-thirds of comments occur outside of typical 9-to-5 working hours, posing serious challenges to organizations with manual moderation strategies.
  
• Active moderation and responses provide measurable benefits to brand sentiment and campaign success: In aggregate, brands and organizations responded to just 3.5% of all comments on their posts. Brands with more active social media moderation and response strategies see negative feedback decrease by 10.5%.
  
• Pride Month has become a consistent flashpoint for brand participation. Across the brands in this data set, hateful comments climbed 1.5X year-over-year, and the rate of anti-LGBTQ+ comments increased by 61% compared to other months. One in every 10 toxic comments posted during Pride Month (June) contained an anti-LGBTQ+ slur.

The 2026 Business of Comments Report is available today.

Research Methodology

This report draws on data generated through Respondology’s comment moderation and engagement platform across the 2025 calendar year. Respondology’s internal research group, Respondology Labs, analyzed 168.8 million comments across 7.6 million social media posts, spanning seven major platforms: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Meta Ads, and TikTok Ads, with early representation from Threads. The dataset includes approximately 3,400 social accounts across both organic and paid environments.