Translated material
YouTube has hidden the dislike counter
Video hosting YouTube announced on its blog that since November 10, it began to gradually hide the number of dislikes under the videos published on the platform. At the same time, the dislike button itself remained available.
YouTube took this step after an experiment they conducted to see if displaying a counter affected the total number of dislikes. The participants in the experiment could use the dislike button, but they didn't see the number of negative ratings.
During the experiment, it turned out that because the number of dislikes was hidden, people used this button less. The study also found that mostly negative ratings were given to videos by emerging creators with a small number of subscribers.
YouTube noted that video creators will still be able to see the number of dislikes in YouTube Studio along with other 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 protecting authors from retaliation.
- YouTube has the most dislikes — over 19 million — on YouTube Rewind 2018 , a traditional annual compilation of global trends prepared by the video hosting team. The video with the results of 2019 is ranked sixth in the list of the most disliked videos (9.5 million dislikes). In 2020, YouTube refused to publish the annual YouTube Rewind video for the first time in 10 years.