YouTube announced they’ll be removing the dislike count on videos to the public, while creators can still view these numbers if they wish – seeing it as a useful tool in developing content.
The main argument I’ve seen in favour of keeping the dislike count comes down to tutorials. We’ve all been there, scouring the platform to find instruction on a new skill and judging each tutorial by the like:dislike ratio before committing a full ten minutes of our time to it. It also works the same way for music videos and news pieces, allowing users to judge the content quality before consuming it.
YouTube’s argument for this change is due to specific types of content being targeted for people to swarm the dislikes, seeing the number go up as a reward of their group effort. While the number may be hidden, the act of clicking the dislike button will still filter into the algorithm and be considered when recommending new content to users.
Personally, I think this change is going to lead to more negative comment sections, which I would argue is worse for creator’s mental health than a digit on their screen. With mental health being one of the reasons for this change, I’m interested to see how this effects the output of certain creators.
As a user, I’m a fan of seeing the dislike count, and tend to use it as a decent guide when looking for specific types of content.
Zak Michaelwaite 
Leave a comment