YouTube will hide ‘Dislike’ counts to avoid creator pile-ons

YouTube, part of Alphabet Inc’s Google, needs to keep creators happy because it’s facing its first real competition for talent in years from rivals like Instagram, TikTok and Spotify. — AFP

YouTube will no longer show the number of "dislikes” on videos, an attempt to make the platform more hospitable to creators.

For years, YouTube has relied on the tiny thumbs below each video as a metric for ranking content. Viewers often used the thumbs-down button to torment or harass certain creators - worse engagement metrics can mean less promotion by the platform’s algorithm. During tests, YouTube said it found that hiding the display count cut down on this practice.