The video-sharing platform YouTube will keep the dislike button on videos but will make the dislike count private, the company said on Wednesday.
“We’re making the dislike counts private across YouTube, but the dislike button is not going away. This change will start gradually rolling out today,” YouTube said in a post on its company blog.
YouTube said the decision is part of an effort to ensure that YouTube promotes respectful interactions between viewers and creators.
Research done by the company found that viewers were less likely to target a video’s dislike button to drive up the count if they could not see it, YoyTube added.
Content creators will still be able to see dislike counts alongside other metrics about performance, according to YouTube.
