Score one in the victory column for the victims of dislike attacks on YouTube.  The company made a big announcement Wednesday that they will be hiding the public dislike counts on their videos going forward.  

The company gave a pretty compelling reason for it too – they want to keep smaller creators from being targeted by others who would gang up to dislike them as a form of harassment. The feel the new policy will promote “respectful interactions between viewers and creators.”

That thumbs down sign is still going to be there, but it will no longer be a tool for public shaming. 

The company had been kicking around this idea since March.  YouTubers who create content have been able to hide ratings on their video posts, but this new policy is good because up until now anyone could immediately see the like-to-dislike ratio as soon as they click on a video.  There’s a chance that may have swayed the decision of someone to view a video if they see an inordinate amount of thumbs down tallies. 

In a report by The Verge it was pointed out that the most disliked video that has ever been on YouTube was one of the company’s very own. It was their Rewind video from 2018. The amount of online negativity towards that video led YouTube to announce they were cancelling the annual Rewind videos. 

Their are what’s called “dislike mobs” running rampant on YouTube, formerly free to bombard a video with dislikes but those days are now officially over. 

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