X Is Testing a 'Dislike' Button Again

From PC Mag: X is once again exploring the idea of adding a "dislike" button for Twitter replies.

As TechCrunch reports, the button is intended to help X rank replies, so it may only appear on responses to tweets, not the original post. As for how it would be displayed, code in the X iOS app features a broken-heart icon next to the "like" heart icon that dates back to 2015.

Twitter experimented with downvotes in 2021, though it insisted the option was "just a test for research" and "not a dislike button." The following year, it said it "learned a lot about the types of replies you don't find relevant and we're expanding this test." But we hadn't heard too much about it since Elon Musk took over in late 2022. TechCrunch suggests this iteration will be more like a dislike button than a Reddit-like "downvote."

The concern with a dislike button is that it will encourage harassment akin to review-bombing. Currently, the best way to see if a tweet has tanked is to compare the number of likes to the number of replies; more of the latter often suggests the poster is getting ratioed in the comments.

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