Following experiments conducted earlier in 2021, Youtube had announced the removal of the "I don't like" counter from its video hosting platform. A change that aimed to protect videographers.
Then on November 10, 2021 the video hosting giant had announced the removal of the counter of "I do not like" content on its platform. A decision that the company had justified by the desire to preserve its creators from harassment and certain targeted attacks.
Initially the dislikes counter had already been temporarily removed during experiments, earlier in 2021.
Finally it is still possible to show that you don't like a video by pressing the thumb down. But the number is no longer displayed publicly. On the other hand, creators can always see it in their dashboard to get an idea of what works and what doesn't on their channel.
PRESERVING RESERVING CONTENT CREATORS
The company had explained that it was the results of a previous experiment that led to this removal of the counter. According to the statement of Youtube, the data showed that this removal of the counter, while leaving users the opportunity to use the "I don't like" button, had led to a decrease in users who clicked on this button only to harm the creators. Malicious acts to which small channels were apparently particularly exposed. In this way, the risks of harassment will be reduced.
As a reminder, the most "disliked" video on YouTube is a video produced by the platform itself! The YouTube Rewind of 2018 has more than 15 million dislikes!
MY CONCLUSION
First of all, I share the same opinion as the company. YouTube said that "we've heard in the course of the experiment that some of you have used the red thumbs counter to decide whether to watch a video or not. We know you might not agree with this decision, but we think it's the right thing to do for the platform." The decision is "one of many steps we are taking to continue to protect creators from harassment," he added. The goal is to foster respect, safety and inclusiveness on its platform, whose algorithm is sometimes accused of offering violent and offensive videos.
Secondly, as a YouTube user, the number of Dislikes was a determining factor in deciding whether or not I could watch a video. This criterion can no longer be taken into account by users as a guarantee of quality or not of a content.
In conclusion, the decision of the giant Youtube certainly had disadvantages but with perfectly justifiable advantages. The proof, despite the 2 billion monthly users, we have rather quickly accepted this more or less radical change of the company.
BONUS
For all the fringe people who don't want to follow the current decision of the company 😅, you can still customize your Youtube channel to display the number of dislikes of a video.
On that note I suggest you follow this tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5NEsBVqY28
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