This experimental plan was announced in an article on the support page of Google, which owns YouTube. It was also announced in YouTube's official Twitter account, where the company wrote:
"In response to creator feedback around well-being and targeted dislike campaigns, we're testing a few new designs that don't show the public dislike count. If you're part of this small experiment, you might spot one of these designs in the coming weeks."
"Creators, you'll still be able to see the exact number of likes and dislikes in YouTube Studio. For viewers, if you're in the experiment, you can still like or dislike a video to share feedback with creators and help tune the recommendations you see on YouTube."
YouTube has long had a problem with the dislike button being "weaponized." Many creators have claimed to be the victims of "mass downvoting campaigns" and YouTube said this is experiment will test one potential solution to this issue.
When the company first announced that it was looking into solving this dilemma, it said it was considering three ideas: Hiding the numbers for both likes and dislikes, removing the likes and dislikes entirely or making it more difficult to dislike a video by requiring extra interaction.
YouTube said the feedback from this test will help inform YouTube as to if it will release similar designs like this on a broader scale.
YouTube may be doing this to protect Joe Biden
A vast majority of the responses to YouTube's announcement strongly disapprove of the idea. Some of the people who spoke out even suggested that this was a way for the company to protect the administration of President Joe Biden. The videos on the White House's official YouTube page have been flooded with dislikes since January of this year when the new administration was sworn in.
In January, YouTube deleted thousands of dislikes from videos on the White House's official channel. When people started noticing that dislikes have been disappearing by the thousands on multiple videos, they began sharing before and after screenshots on social media after Biden's new administration took over the channel and published its first videos.
Some of the captured images show over 16,000 dislikes removed from three White House videos, but even this wasn't enough to fix the imbalance of likes to dislikes on the channel's uploads. (Related: YOUTUBE CAUGHT RED-HANDED removing dislikes from Biden White House page – anything to fool the proletariat.)
https://twitter.com/TrulyTayo/status/1377005399769935872
Many content creators who use YouTube as the main platform for their videos took to Twitter to complain about the company's experiment.
"No one wants this," said one pop-culture content creator who replied to the company's tweet announcing the experiment. "Dislikes are helpful for a great many things and this is what puts YouTube above all others. By all means keep making decisions without asking a broad cross-section of creators. How about making it our choice if you care so much for our well-being?"
"Official White House YouTube team gonna be overjoyed at this," tweeted conservative pundit Paul Joseph Watson.
"Just admit you are protecting Biden from further embarrassment," said another conservative content creator. "Feedback from audience is crucial to running a channel. But you will make this decision knowing it's a terrible one and do it anyway."
"I wonder if all the dislikes on Biden videos inspired this new 'feature,'" commented director Robby Starbuck.
In response to the accusations, YouTube said the removal of dislikes was part of its regular efforts to get rid of what it considered to be "inauthentic" forms of engagement.
"YouTube regularly removes any spam likes or dislikes from your videos," said the company. "It may take up to 48 hours for the numbers to be updated."
The move to hide the dislike bar comes as the company continues to face accusations of being politically biased in favor of liberals and the Democratic Party. The company claims its products are developed and run as politically neutral as possible.
Learn more about how YouTube manipulates its own platforms for its interests by reading the latest articles at YouTubeCensorship.com.
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