YouTube's "dislike mobs," say goodbye.
YouTube announced it will make all YouTube videos with dislike counts private.
The thumbs-down button won't disappear. To dislike a video, users can click the thumbs down button to notify YouTube about what they don't like.
However, if a user clicks the thumbs down, there won't be a dislike count that will let users know how many others dislike the video.
YouTube claims that this decision is the result of an experiment YouTube conducted earlier in the year.
It was found that users are less likely to complain if they can't see the results from a hate mob's campaign for driving down a targeted video’s dislike count. The count was removed actually led to a decrease in dislikes for videos.
YouTube claims that the experiment confirmed what many creators had previously said to the company: These bad actors often target small channels in an effort to increase dislike numbers.
Users will still have access to their YouTube Studio dashboard, which includes exact dislike count metrics. The dislike numbers, even if not publicized, can be used to determine if viewers didn't like the video.
Online trolls, however, will lose an important tool they used to discourage new creators. YouTube will be a (slightly happier) place.
YouTube claims that the removal of dislike scores will begin today and continue to roll out gradually on the platform.
