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Don’t count on YouTube to backtrack on hiding the dislike count. On Tuesday, the video platform’s CEO defended the change by downplaying the dislike count’s usefulness.
“Some of you mention dislikes help you decide what to watch,” said YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. “But dislikes were never shown to people on the homepage, search results, up next screen, where users were most likely to choose a video.”
Wojcicki made the statement while discussing the platform’s priorities for 2022. She acknowledged that the November decision to hide dislike counts on videos was “controversial.” But she argued it was the right action to take, citing the need to stop online harassment.
“We also saw the dislike count harming parts of our ecosystem through dislike attacks as people actively work to drive up the number of dislikes on a creator’s video,” she said. “And these dislike attacks often targeted smaller creators and those just getting started.”
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“Some of you mention dislikes help you decide what to watch,” said YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. “But dislikes were never shown to people on the homepage, search results, up next screen, where users were most likely to choose a video.”
Wojcicki made the statement while discussing the platform’s priorities for 2022. She acknowledged that the November decision to hide dislike counts on videos was “controversial.” But she argued it was the right action to take, citing the need to stop online harassment.
“We also saw the dislike count harming parts of our ecosystem through dislike attacks as people actively work to drive up the number of dislikes on a creator’s video,” she said. “And these dislike attacks often targeted smaller creators and those just getting started.”
YouTube CEO Defends Hiding Dislike Count, Says It Reduced Harassment
Susan Wojcicki also claims the dislike count wasn't always useful in determining what to watch.
