O YouTube announced that it will no longer show the amount of “dislikes” on videos, in a new move to “reduce targeted dislike attacks and their impact on creators.”
Starting today, users will no longer see a public dislike count, however they will still be able to register a thumbs down on the video for the uploader to view privately.
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"This comes after much research, testing and consideration," YouTube announced on Thursday.
The move reflects Instagram's strategy of removing "likes" from posts to apparently "minimize the stress of posting online".
content creators
Creators will still be able to see dislike counts in the Community tab in YouTube Studio, along with dislike counts on live streams.
"Unfortunately, YouTube research teams have discovered that there are organizations that use dislikes to target content creators," said Matt Koval, YouTube Creative Representative.
Koval concluded that this was done simply "because they don't like the breeder or what they represent".
“That's a big problem when half of YouTube's mission is to give everyone a voice,” he said.
Critics were quick to weigh in on the big change, criticizing the company for removing one of the few tools users have to determine the quality of videos.
Some smaller creators refuted that the change would help their cause, suggesting that removing the public count would only lead to more trolls talking about it.
Others suggested the platform move was to increase views for corporate channels, which traditionally receive a cooler reception from the online community.
Teen Wolf director Stephen Ford was particularly critical this morning, accusing YouTube of "appeasing these entities".
“They are removing it because the entertainment, government and media outlets are constantly being frowned upon. This is to appease these entities and increase airtime,” he said.