YouTube is testing several interface variants that hide the number of negative reviews left with the Dislike button.
Although I promise they won’t completely remove the Dislike button, YouTube administrators are already testing several interface variants that hide the number of negative reviews left on published videos. The argument is that functionality is often abused, by conducting real “bombardment” campaigns with negative reviews, designed to discredit certain categories of content and authors. YouTube assures that negative ratings will continue to be counted, only that the exact number will only be known to the channel’s administrator.
However, there are many arguments in favor of displaying the number of positive and negative reviews. For example, their proportion is generally a very good indicator of questionable quality content, SPAM clips, misinformation, or violating YouTube community rules.
YouTube states that the test comes in response to feedback received from content creators, bothered by the abuse of the Like and Dislike buttons. At the same time, YouTube administrators say users will still be able to use the Dislike button to send feedback to the authors of those videos, as well as to form their recommendations in the YouTube feed.
Robert J. Smith is still early into his career as tech reporter but has already had his work published in many major publications including JoyStiq and Android Authority. In regards to academics, Robert earned a degree in business from Fordham University. Robert has passion for emerging technology and covers upcoming products and breakthroughs in science and tech.
