YOUTUBE IS REMOVING THE DISLIKE COUNTS FROM VIDEOS

YouTube announced today it will begin testing what could end up being a significant change to its video platform: It’s going to try hiding the dislike count on videos from public view. The company says it will run a “small experiment” where it will try out a few different designs where dislike counts are no longer shown, however, none will see the “dislike” button itself removed entirely.

According to YouTube, when users collectively dislike a video it’s a form of harassment against creators. Removing public dislike counts is designed to reduce said “harassment.”

Going forward, the dislike button will remain on videos, but the amount of clicks it receives will be private.The button is now a tool viewers can use to customize the recommendations they receive across YouTube.Channels can see how many dislikes their videos receive, if they choose to, in YouTube Studio along with other metrics.YouTube acknowledges that the decision to remove dislike counts will not sit well with everyone:

YouTube acknowledges that the decision to remove dislike counts will not sit well with everyone:

“We heard during the experiment that some of you have used the public dislike count to help decide whether or not to watch a video. We know that you might not agree with this decision, but we believe that this is the right thing to do for the platform.”

For more on YouTube’s rationale behind removing public dislikes, see its explainer video below:

Watch on YouTube.

There you can also learn whether people generally agree with the content of the video, provided the channel hasn’t disabled user comments.

YouTube is committed to making more changes like this in the future:

“We want to create an inclusive and respectful environment where creators have the opportunity to succeed and feel safe to express themselves. This is just one of many steps we are taking to continue to protect creators from harassment. Our work is not done, and we’ll continue to invest here.”