YouTube videos will soon no longer display how many dislikes they have, only how many likes they have. The announcement was made by the Google-owned company yesterday, and so far, it’s been met with substantial backlash. To this end, the unofficial King of YouTube, PewDiePie, has come out and commented on the decision, which he personally finds odd and confusing.
“To reduce targeted dislike attacks and their impact on creators (esp on smaller creators), you’ll no longer see a public dislike *count* on YouTube starting today (the dislike button is staying),” said YouTube of the change.
Videos by ComicBook.com
In a new video, PewDiePie addressed YouTube and its explanation for the change, noting there are positives. For example, PewDiePie revealed that random dislikes — especially on “wholesome” content — is a problem.
Then PewDiePie transitioned out of his role as devil’s advocate, and explained why he thinks the change is misguided by first explaining that it’s a good tool for viewers.
“On YouTube, it’s [the dislike count] an indication of if it’s a good video or not,” said PewDiePie. “If you’re looking up a tutorial video and it has 20 percent or more dislikes, I’m not gonna watch that video. I know it’s a bad tutorial.”
Directly addressing YouTube’s claim that a big motivator for the change are “dislike attacks,” PewDiePie suggests this doesn’t happen often, and when it does, the uploader can simply hide the like and dislike count.
“Usually, when that happens, it’s when someone’s getting canceled, right?” said PewDiePie when videos get targeted with dislike spamming. “That function already exists. If you’re getting targeted by a ton of dislikes, remove the dislike bar. They’re fixing a problem that already didn’t need to be fixed.”
PewDiePie concluded by admitting he’s not sure how the change will play out, but right now the YouTube is leaning towards the change being unnecsary.
“I’m willing to admit, I don’t know what the outcome is gonna be, so there’s no point in really getting pissed off about it,” said PewDiePie. “It remains to be seen, but it’s kind of like, well, if it ain’t broke, why fix it, right?”
H/T, Dexerto.
