YouTube is instituting a sweeping change to its platform today, hiding ‘dislike’ counts on all videos.
The change, YouTube said, was first tested earlier this year in a bid to crack down on so-called ‘dislike attacks’ — where users seek to drum up dislikes on a particular video as a bullying tactic. This can be particularly detrimental given that likes and dislikes have a bearing on YouTube’s recommendation systems.
That said, the dislike button isn’t going anywhere, users will still be able to express their dissatisfaction with a video, and creators will still be able to see their dislike counts within YouTube Studio. The change here is that these metrics will no longer be public.
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“Dislike attacks happen at a higher proportion on smaller creators and those just getting started,” the company said. “With this change, we saw a reduction in dislike attacking behavior, which is why we’re proceeding with making the dislike counts private across YouTube.”
YouTube has been brainstorming ways to combat dislike mobs since 2019, and initiated tests last March.
