Via a command-line parameter and/or server command.
May be used to stop TTL deletes if the system is under extreme load or during an outage/corruption investigation. A single global (or per-DB) setting would be easier than having to update or drop all TTL indexes.
By default, the TTLMonitor thread is enabled. To disable at startup:
--setParameter ttlMonitorEnabled=false
To disable at runtime:
db.adminCommand({setParameter:1, ttlMonitorEnabled:false})