YouTube is fully aware of the misuse of the “dislike” button on the platform and the recent Rewind video serves as a good example.
To address this issue of “disgruntled groups», the YouTube product development team is experimenting with different ways to curb the abuse of the “dislike” button.
The “disgruntled groups» are essentially a group of people who are usually opposed to a particular video creator. Thus they carry out an organized attack on a video with downvoting or by commenting negatively.
It is a long-standing issue on YouTube that creators have spoken about many times in the past. Reports indicate that a video with a large number of “dislike” does not perform well, as it is less likely to be recommended for viewing to the audience and therefore harms the creator's channel.
This is the reason why the company intends to make it more difficult to carry out such organized attacks. The platform's strategy may include disabling rating measurements by default or asking viewers to give an explanation for their “dislike”, or even removing that specific button entirely.
YouTube's managing director Tom Leung acknowledges that these approaches also have disadvantages, as asking for an explanation would prevent people from expressing their opinions because they do not have the time or willingness to respond.
Regarding whether the removal of “dislike” is considered extreme and not very «liberal», Tom Leung added that YouTube may not adopt any of these approaches if it tends to do more harm than good.
The YouTube team is in an early stage of making any decision and is seeking feedback from creators, who could present more effective and fair solutions.
