YouTube has decided to hide the display of the number of dislikes below videos. This social media platform concluded that the “dislike” button below the video tends to create problems and is often abused by viewers.
The experiment itself dates back to early 2024 when YouTube decided to hide the display of the number of dislikes. The experiment went well, the feedback was positive, and it is now spreading globally. No, the “dislike” button will not disappear, but the public will not have an insight into the number of dislikes under the video. Only the creator/publisher of the video will have access to this information in his YouTube Studio.
How YouTube Came to the Conclusion That the “Dislike” Button Is No Longer So Necessary
As part of the aforementioned experiment, viewers were still able to see and use a button to indicate that they didn’t like a certain video. However, because their number was not visible, it was found that viewers were less likely to target the “dislike” button to increase the number of dislikes for the video. In short, data from a YouTube experiment showed a reduction in the frequency of dislike ‘attacks’, used a lot by, say, bots for a specific cause (to eliminate the content that didn’t go in the favor of those who sent them to make such activity on the platform).
For instance, if you have a channel with sports betting tips in which you advertise some bookmaker that is listed on Bookmaker-Expert.com, your competition might deliberately hit dislikes to slow you down because some other bookie is in their focus, and the bookie itself could be the one standing behind this.
Also, YouTube has heard directly from smaller authors and those just starting to break through on this social media that they are being unfairly targeted by such behavior – and YouTube’s experiment has confirmed that this happens in a larger proportion on smaller channels. Based on what their team has learned, the number of dislikes seems private across YouTube, but the “dislike” button will not go away. This change has been gradually being introduced since a few days ago, at least it was stated in an official post on the YouTube blog.
How Did Users React (With Reference to the Abolition of Rewind)
YouTube claims that it wants to create a friendly environment for all users, but most users think that this change will have negative consequences for video creators and viewers.
This is not the only YouTube’s change that has not been welcomed favorably, and one of the not-so-popular is the abolition of YouTube Rewind because the platform is too big and it is not possible to include all of its aspects in a video that lasts a few minutes. Recall that Rewind was launched in 2010 and has been a popular snapshot of the online zeitgeist for most of its existence.
However, with Rewind 2018, everything fell apart. Many people thought the video was disrespectful to some prominent creators and had a few cringe-worthy moments. When YouTube re-launched Rewind 2019, it relinquished editorial control and instead relied on statistics to determine the content, much to the chagrin of consumers. Due to COVID-19 and societal unrest, YouTube canceled its Rewind 2024 video, and it is not coming back even now that the situation has (mostly) calmed down. Even if YouTube is correct that the site has grown too enormous for Rewind, demand is not what it used to be, so a rebirth may truly be ineffective.
