What you need to know
- YouTube is hiding the dislike count from the site.
- The move was introduced to help stop abuse of the feature.
- Users should start noticing the change today as it gradually rolls out for users.
YouTube announced on Wednesday that it will begin hiding the dislike count on videos. This was done in response to some users of the service abusing the feature.
In general, viewers have used the dislike button to help gauge the quality of content on a particular video, and creators use it to assess their own content and work out how they can improve. However, there has been a trend of some using it for less-than-helpful purposes.
Some will dislike a video simply because they don't like the author, while others will conduct dislike attacks just to drive up the count for no particular reason. The latter move, in particular, can harm creators, and YouTube experimented earlier this year with hiding the dislike count to avoid this.
With the experiment, YouTube saw a reduction in coordinated dislike attacks on channels, which led to today's decision to hide the count from viewers.
The dislike button will still be visible across the platform and on the best Android phones and will continue to be used to help YouTube tune personal recommendations. Creators will also still be able to view their own dislike count by navigating to YouTube Studio, where they can find their other video metrics.
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.
YouTube notes that the change will gradually arrive for users starting today.
Matt Coval, YouTube's creator liaison, does joke that its reasoning behind the change has nothing to do with the canceled YouTube Rewind getting a lot of dislikes.
