YouTube Hides ‘Dislike’ Counts to Safeguard Creators From Harassment and Targeted Attacks

To protect creators from abuse and targeted attacks, YouTube said on Wednesday that the number of “dislike” clicks on videos will no longer be available to the public.

Critics sometimes claim that a public tally of likes — or dislikes — that social media posts receive is hazardous to one’s well-being, and both Facebook and Instagram allow users to opt out.

Users of the Google-owned video sharing platform will still be able to click the “dislike” button beneath a video, but the number of negative reviews will no longer be visible.

“To ensure that YouTube fosters polite interactions between users and creators,” YouTube stated in a statement, “we experimented with the dislike button to explore if adjustments could better protect our creators from harassment and reduce dislike attacks.”

“The results of our study revealed a decrease in dislike-attacking conduct.”

Content creators – the online celebrities who draw large crowds — will be able to monitor how many thumbs-down marks their videos receive.

Smaller scale or new artists have been unfairly targeted in attacks, according to YouTube, where users try to increase the amount of dislikes on videos.

The improvements at YouTube come as lawmakers, regulators, and watchdogs routinely criticize major social media and video companies of failing to do enough to combat online harassment.

Leaked internal documents demonstrate that Facebook executives were aware of the potential harm of their platforms, leading to one of the company’s most significant brand crises ever.

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