YouTube Will Start Hiding The Dislike Count On Videos

YouTube is changing its Dislike button functionality in an effort to curb online harassment. While the Dislike button will remain, the dislike counts will be hidden to everyone but the content creator. That way, the creator can use it as a gauge of viewer feedback, without it becoming a platform for haters to pile on. The change will be rolling out gradually starting today.

YouTube says this follows a successful experiment of changing Dislike button functionality and how that impacted both creators and viewers.

"As part of this experiment, viewers could still see and use the dislike button," the company said in a statement. "But because the count was not visible to them, we found that they were less likely to target a video's dislike button to drive up the count. In short, our experiment data showed a reduction in dislike attacking behavior. We also heard directly from smaller creators and those just getting started that they are unfairly targeted by this behavior--and our experiment confirmed that this does occur at a higher proportion on smaller channels."

Following the change, creators can still view the dislikes within their own metrics, and viewers can still hit the dislike button as a way of sending feedback to the creators.

"We heard during the experiment that some of you have used the public dislike count to help decide whether or not to watch a video. We know that you might not agree with this decision, but we believe that this is the right thing to do for the platform," the company said. "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 to protect creators from harassment. Our work is not done, and we'll continue to invest here."

While the move does seem likely to protect smaller content creators from harassment, it also means large online presences--like YouTube itself--won't have a publicly viewable gauge of fan sentiment. YouTube's own YouTube Rewind 2018 video from 2018 is among the most disliked videos ever at 19 million. More recently, Nintendo's Switch Online expansion pass overview video received 173,000 dislikes, compared to just 18,000 likes, as a way of fans expressing their apparent displeasure with its price.