YouTube dislikes online harassment, with the company announcing it will eliminate the ‘thumbs down’ button.
The company will remove the dislike counter from all videos, YouTube announced Wednesday. Users can still hit the dislike button on videos they take issue with, but the number of dislikes will not be publicly visible. Creators will still be able to see the count.
“We want to create an inclusive and respectful environment where creators have the opportunity to succeed and feel safe to express themselves,” YouTube wrote. “This is just one of many steps we are taking to continue to protect creators from harassment.”
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Many claimed YouTube made this change in response to specific videos receiving dislikes in a process known as “ratioing.” Some speculate the initial testing of the feature in March of this year came after negative user reaction to videos posted by the White House received more dislikes than likes. However, YouTube told Reuters that was false and that the tech company did not speak with the White House prior to its decision.
YouTube’s response came in response to “dislike bombing,” a practice in which several users coordinate to dislike a video for assorted reasons. Targets of dislike bombing have included Nintendo Switch presentations, movie trailers, and political videos.
Despite praise from those who argue dislike bombing campaigns amount to harassment, some creators have expressed concern about how it could affect how creators learn about their audience. Technology YouTuber Marques Brownlee argued the public visibility of the like/dislike ratio is a “useful tool to see how helpful a video will be at a glance.”
Hey @YouTube removing info from the rating system is NOT helpful. Public like/dislike ratio = Useful tool to see how helpful a video will be at a glance. Hiding dislikes helps nothing… but increases the # of ppl dissatisfied by spending too much time watching an unhelpful video https://t.co/PsqkVbis9X
— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) November 11, 2021
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The most disliked video in YouTube history was the 2018 YouTube Rewind, which received 10 million dislikes due to people finding it too advertiser-friendly and ignoring the actual YouTube stories of that year.
