YouTube Says It Isn't Hiding the Dislike Button for Users, Only Moving It for Creators
YouTube denies testing a hidden dislike button for regular users. The new layout applies only to creators on their own uploaded videos.
Video platform YouTube has confirmed that it is not testing a hidden dislike button for regular users. The company's statement, sent to the technology site The Verge on Wednesday, clarifies the situation after a story published on Tuesday suggested that such a test was under way.
How the confusion arose
On Tuesday, The Verge reported that YouTube appeared to be hiding the dislike button beneath videos. The report was based on at least two users of the social network X who had shared screenshots showing the button moved into the three-dot menu.
What the company says
YouTube spokesperson Kimberly Taylor said the company is not testing hiding the dislike button for users. Instead, YouTube is introducing a new interface for creators on videos they have uploaded themselves. In that layout, the dislike button sits behind the three-dot menu. The spokesperson added that creators can still see their full dislike counts in YouTube Studio, the creator tools section, alongside other analytics.
Earlier changes
The creator change follows previous adjustments to the button. Since 2021, YouTube has not shown public dislike counts on videos, a step the company took to prevent harassment. Earlier this year, the dislike button was also removed from Shorts, YouTube's short-form video section.
The statement does not mention any further changes planned for regular users in the near term.
