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YouTube announces it will no longer show dislike counts on videos

Creators will still be able to see dislikes on their own videos, however.

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YouTube plans to remove dislike counts from public view.

Image: Protocol

On YouTube, viewers will no longer see how many people disliked a video. YouTube announced on Wednesday via its blog that the platform is rolling out a new feature to make the dislike count private. The change will take effect gradually starting Wednesday.

According to the post, YouTube experimented with removing dislike counts from videos earlier this year. It found that when the dislike count was removed, viewers "were less likely to target a video's dislike button to drive up the count," the post stated. YouTube wrote that new and smaller creators expressed being unfairly targeted by this type of "dislike attacking behavior."

These changes are part of YouTube's broader efforts to promote more "respectful interactions between viewers and creators," the post stated. The company views the change as an important step towards creating a more inclusive and harassment-free environment for creators.

Aisha Counts

Aisha Counts (@aishacounts) is a reporter at Protocol covering enterprise software. Formerly, she was a management consultant for EY. She's based in Los Angeles and can be reached at acounts@protocol.com.

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