YouTube is removing 'dislike' counter from all videos

[Daniel Sims]

Why it matters: YouTube announced this week that dislike counts on all videos across all platforms would be private. The change starts rolling out right away. YouTube says it's an attempt to discourage dislike mobs, which it has been trying to deal with for a while.

On Wednesday, YouTube announced that it would gradually roll out a change that makes the number of dislikes for each video only viewable to the uploader. Users will still be able to click a thumbs down button to tune what videos YouTube recommends them according to the blog post, but they won't see how many other people disliked a video. So, content creators can still use the data, among other metrics in YouTube Studio, to gauge their channel's performance. The change applies across all of its platforms.

For years now, YouTube has been trying to find a way to deal with the problem of targeted harassment campaigns that would drive massive numbers of dislikes to a user. So in March, YouTube experimented with this making dislikes counts invisible to users.

Those dislikes can decrease the number of recommendations a creator or video gets, limiting their channel's reach and potentially their income. YouTube says it found this happens to smaller channels more often and that many users determine whether to watch a video based on the number of likes it got versus dislikes.

Whether hiding dislike numbers from the public stops dislike mobs remains to be seen. YouTube hasn't said whether a high number of dislikes can still limit a video or channel's recommendations. However, YouTube clearly considers the experiment to be successful since it is officially rolling out the change.

Image credit: SCBY (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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https://www.techspot.com/news/92172-youtube-make-dislike-counts-private.html

 

[Bl00dyMinded]

That sucks, I would only go to Youtube to see what videos sucked.

 

[EdmondRC]

Right, I'm sure this is about harassment and not the embarrassing numbers of dislikes for political and social opinions that agree with Alphabet's own leanings.

 

[pcnthuziast]

A new world order is taking shape in real time. A single governing body for all of earth is imminent. Dissent is forbidden. Free thinking is forbidden. Group identity is paramount and individuality is viewed as refusal to comply and conform. WWIII is imminent, but will not be nuclear. It will be social and it will be a revolution by those who refuse to be slaves.

 

[m4a4]

Nothing like hiding criticism....

 

[amghwk]

Dislikes should be removed altogether. If you like, click like. If you don't like, better STFU and proceed elsewhere.

Free thinking is okay, but keep it to yourself. Not all free thinking are noteworthy. Mostly are convoluted can of worms.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

If only ALL websites had a Like and Dislike button.

Thumbs up- thumbs down.

 

[Hexic]

Society has forgotten how to deal with hurt feelings. The poor children of the future are going to be nothing short of ultimate entitlement.

Sunshine and rainbows! Never mind that your opinion may be beyond asinine and the public has every right to judge you for it.

 

[NicktheWVAHick]

I dislike some of the comments made in this section but unfortunately no one will ever know…..

 

[Dimitrios]

The reason is probably due from what I and others studied the last few months, DISLIKES are crazy high for a certain president. I took snapshots for future reference.

Social media and video sites have been censored like crazy. You folks can't hide the truth forever.
FAKETUBE and FAKEBOOK have gone to $hit. RIP.

 

[Davidc145]

Before everyone somehow turned this political, I was thinking of this video which will be a victim of this change.

 

[Dimitrios]

That sucks, I would only go to Youtube to see what videos sucked.

It has to do with the horrible ratings for the president. Mark Dice and a few others like me have been keeping track. Look at the numbers on those "video's." I have been using FIREFOX snapshot and have a long crazy list.

 

[psycros]

This is how you know the tide is starting to turn. You'll know its really picking up speed when Youtube starts censoring again. Shouldn't be long now.

 

[VaRmeNsI]

This is just an attempt at containing dissent.

 

[Lounds]

What a load of bollocks.

 

[NightAntilli]

This is only happening because the white house got spammed with thumb downs.

 

[winjer]

Hiding the dislike ratio will solve all of humanities problems.

 

[Avenger001]

You live in an advanced oligarchy - Nothing is done for your benefit. I am pretty sure this has more to do with protecting establishment news\political\corporate youtube channels than anything else.

 

[Rayneofpayne]

Yeah because some videos fully deserved the dislikes they get, meh, it's become like rotten tomato's no longer actually useful because they ratio everything they want to promote. Diablo Immortal totally deserved the hate it got along with 90% of the EA games.
YouTube is skitchy at best with their community guidelines and make up **** as they go anyways,

 

[Rayneofpayne]

This is just an attempt at containing dissent.

Naw it's just the extreme left wing nut jobs, that believe you do not have a given right to actually hate anything or dislike anything they promote as being good, Totally down vote the crap out of Trump and cry like babies, but Biden and this complete Trainwreck of an administration you have to love, they give you no choice, you will embrace being dirt because you are white and the world's problems are solely your fault while minorities can burn cities and hold towns ransom with no consequence, and you will have to love everything the CDC and WHO states because they are rich and coasted on Mommies and Daddies money through a doctorate and totally only tell you real true scientific data that you must blindly believe and follow, and you must hit that like button and love all of what they force down your robot little throat.

In the words of the philosophers known as George Carlin and Robin Williams..... "F$@k them"

 

[TheLybian]

"Liberal" lunatics are vile fascists and the world has become farce. Americans of European descent are the new Boers and democracy as well as the Yankee project is unfortunately dying a slow death.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Immature and uneducated people make it so we can't have nice things all the time.
This is life.

 

[phenomx8]

That's what I call Nintendo Power ... Sorry, its the recent event Im aware of regarding to dislikes and I guess thats for the right reason ...

 

[Bl00dyMinded]

It has to do with the horrible ratings for the president. Mark Dice and a few others like me have been keeping track. Look at the numbers on those "video's." I have been using FIREFOX snapshot and have a long crazy list.

Yeah I know. The authoritarian continues in this country. Its sad.

 

[y6Tq2RGXEejb]

This comment section gave me PTSD and cancer.