How to Scrape Snapchat Spotlight Comments for Social Research

Description and use

Automated scraper for collecting Snapchat Spotlight comments without login or browser automation, enabling quick access to structured audience reaction data.

Problem

Collecting public comment data from Snapchat Spotlight is difficult because comments are embedded in the mobile app and lack a public API, hindering competitive analysis, influencer auditing, and sentiment research.

Outcome

The scraper decodes base64‑encoded JSON embedded in Spotlight pages, retrieving comment text, user info, reactions, ranking scores, and timestamps without browser automation or authentication. It outputs each comment as a structured record and handles errors gracefully.

Workflow

• 1. Choose scraping mode: byUsername or bySpotlightUrl
• 2. Provide target inputs: usernames array or spotlightUrls array
• 3. Set maxCommentsPerSnap (default 100, up to 1000)
• 4. Optionally configure proxyConfiguration
• 5. Run the Apify actor
• 6. Export dataset as JSON/CSV/Excel or via API/webhooks

Evidence

The scraper decodes base64‑encoded JSON directly from public page HTML

Source