Dislike buttons are not a groundbreaking concept within the social media landscape. Platforms like YouTube offer users the option to dislike videos, but it chooses to withhold the total number of dislikes from public view. Now, Elon Musk’s social media platform, X is developing a downvoting feature aimed at refining the ranking of replies – a development that has ignited a new wave of debate. Code discoveries within the X iOS app hint at the potential introduction of a “dislike” button, a functionality with the power to significantly alter how users interact with content and how X moderates content on its platform.
Early glimpses of the potential dislike button’s design reveal that unlike the traditional downvote icon found on platforms like Reddit, X seems to be exploring a broken heart icon. This broken heart mirrors the existing heart-shaped “like” button but incorporates a downward arrow. This design choice might suggest an attempt to move beyond a simple binary of like or dislike and introduce a more subtle way for users to express varying degrees of negativity.
Recent findings by reverse engineer Aaron Perris (@aaronp613 on X) have shed more light on the development of the downvote feature. Perris discovered references to the feature within the X iOS app, including images and text strings that suggest the button might be styled as a broken heart icon. These references indicate that the feature is designed to prompt users with messages such as “Do you want to downvote this post?” and “Downvote this post,” suggesting that X might extend this functionality beyond replies to include all posts.
Screenshots shared by Perris show these newly added references and prompts within the app, highlighting the potential user interface changes. Additionally, a video demo by an X employee, which briefly showcased the dislike button, further supports the likelihood of this feature’s imminent public testing. The demo was quickly deleted and reposted without the dislike button.
This is not the first time the social media company is experimenting with a downvoting feature. Three years ago, the company (known as Twitter at that time) tested both upvoting and downvoting across all posts. These tests aimed to provide users with more nuanced ways to interact with content. X’s current tests appear to have a narrower focus, and the dislike button seems to be targeted specifically at replies within threads. The rationale behind this is simple: by allowing users to downvote irrelevant, offensive, or misleading replies, X aims to bury them beneath more constructive or informative content.
The introduction of a downvote button could significantly impact how users interact on X. By allowing downvotes on replies, X aims to elevate the quality of discourse and demote content that adds little value to conversations. News of the potential dislike button has already elicited a mixed response from X users, and the (potential) implementation of a dislike button is not without controversy. Concerns have been raised about the potential for increased negativity and targeted harassment, making the micro-blogging site more toxic. So far, social media platforms that have incorporated dislike buttons, such as YouTube, often choose to hide the total number of dislikes to mitigate these risks. It remains to be seen whether X will adopt a similar approach.
