TikTok introduces a dislike button in the comments

Social media companies are avoiding negative reactions on their platforms, trying lately to eliminate any kind of interaction that could encourage conflicts between users. YouTube recently removed the number of dislikes that videos receive, while Instagram has been testing to completely hide the number of likes it has received. TikTok has a different strategy, testing the presence of a dislike button, but only in comments.

The number of dislikes on TikTok will not be publicly displayed

The TikTok dislike button is currently only in testing and does not appear on all users’ accounts. It is implemented to help “clean up” the comments section. Users thus have the option to mark comments that are not relevant or that are annoying, as they are probably pushed lower in the list, or even completely hidden as a result of these reactions. The interesting thing is that a number will not be displayed to mark the dislikes. Neither users who dislike nor those who receive them will know the total number.

This is not the first time TikTok users have been given access to a dislike button. Videos can already mark videos as “uninteresting” to them by long-pressing the clip. This reaction is the opposite of the like, which saves the clip in the favorites list. However, that button rather affects the personal algorithm that delivers videos to you in the “For You” stream, while new dislikes in comments can help the whole community better “moderate” comments that appear on certain videos.

Being a feature that is still being tested, it is not clear if it will reach the accounts of all users in the near future. Thus, if you do not yet have access to the dislike button in the comments, you may receive it later, when the final feature is released for everyone.

source: The Verge