YouTube is hiding dislikes on creators’ videos to protect them

YouTube announced that it will gradually begin to hide dislikes on all creator’s videos from public view, keeping this information visible only to creators. The dislike button will continue to exist and users will be able to express their dissatisfaction. The only difference is that they won’t be able to see the dislike count on videos.

The company explains that the aim is to protect the creators who are victims of malicious actions coordinated with bombing their videos with dislikes, leading to less views from the algorithm of YouTube to the suggestions of other users. This fact means less visibility, less views and less power to display ads and/or sponsored content.

In the main image, you can see the new Dislike button that already appears in some user’s groups. You will notice that the Like button still shows the number of all users, so maybe in the future, we will see only the positive scores of each video and the negative will be for the eyes of the creators and the platform algorithms.

Youtube’s tests will continue for a few weeks more, but the final decision will be taken after evaluating the users' reactions. We can’t deny the fact that protecting content creators shows a good intention, however, sometimes it happens the exact opposite when manipulating "scores" with bombarding likes.