According to CNET, YouTube is removing public "dislike" counts, which are visible statistics of how many people click on a video's "thumbs down." Google-owned video sites, the world's largest source of online videos with more than 2 billion monthly users, said the move was made to stop the harassment campaign of "dislike attacks." YouTube said the change "will be rolled out gradually starting Wednesday."
The Dislike button itself is reserved, so viewers can still click dislike below the video to adjust their recommendations and privately express their dissatisfaction with the video. Creators can also privately track the number of Dislikes on their videos, as well as all of their private metrics. But the number of overt "dislikes" will soon disappear.
After experimenting with the "dislike" button earlier this year, YouTube said it found disproportionate "dislike" targets for small creators and people just starting out.
"We've heard in experiments that some of you take advantage of the number of dislikings from the public to help decide whether to watch a video or not. We know you may disagree with this decision, but we believe it's the right one for the platform," YouTube said in a blog post on Wednesday.
It's the latest move by a tech giant to tweak a feature developed years ago that has evolved into a destructive force for some people. The researchers note that the number of Likes and dislikes is not only a tool for harassment, but also a factor that social media undermines the mental health of some users. Facebook and Instagram launched the option to hide the number of public Likes for all users earlier this year after testing began in 2019. That same year, Twitter explored the question of whether to blur likes and retweets.
On Wednesday, YouTube said it removed the dislike count because the company wanted to improve the inclusiveness, respect and security of its services, saying it was "one of the many steps we've taken to continue to protect creators from harassment."
"Our work is not done yet, and we will continue to invest here," the company said.
YouTube itself has had the experience of posting the most unpopular video of all time on YouTube. For example, the company's 2018 annual trend review video YouTube Rewind had nearly 221 million views and 19 million dislikes. Even the children of YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki called it "disgusting."