YouTube makes it harder to dislike Shorts videos

YouTube users have a mixed relationship of interest and displeasure with the platform’s Shorts video content. While many users appreciate the ease of discovering new content and getting to know new producers through short clips, a significant group believes that Shorts should be moved to a standalone app.

However, even for those users who have fully embraced Shorts, a change to the user interface has made the dissatisfaction part of the relationship even more difficult to express.

The user interface of Shorts on YouTube has a simple structure. All the important tools are placed in the sidebar aligned with the right side of the screen, and the less important tools are hidden in the three-dot menu. In the normal state, this user interface first displays the like button in the top section, and then the dislike option, the comments section, sharing, remix and finally the channel icon are placed. However, for some users, the dislike option no longer appears in its usual place.

Many users are confused by the sudden disappearance of the dislike option and think that this feature has been completely removed. However, such an impression is not correct. The said option is still there, but its location has changed.

YouTube confirmed the change in a new support post, explaining that the icon that was previously available with a tap on the right sidebar has now been moved to the three-dot menu. From now on, to dislike a video, the user must go through the following steps:

1. Touch the three-dot menu in the upper right corner.
2. Find the Dislike option in the menu and select it.

In addition, YouTube has announced that since users often use the Dislike and Not interested options in Shorts as an alternative, these two features are being merged with each other. According to the explanation provided, some users will see the thumbs down icon with the title Dislike and others will see the same icon with the title Not interested. Also, all users in this experiment who click on the thumbs down icon in a Short, will receive an optional feedback survey; A process that is functionally similar to the current mechanism of the Not interested option.

This change appears to be in the experimental stage and has not yet been implemented globally across the entire platform. This action will create a more difficult process for users who intend to register negative feedback and may cause them dissatisfaction. It should also be noted that this is not the first time that YouTube is experimenting with moving the dislike option. The platform also moved the thumbs down icon to the hidden menu last year, but that change didn’t last long. It remains to be seen whether this new decision will last or not.