It happened back in late 2021. YouTube officially nuked the public dislike count, and honestly, the internet hasn't been the same since. You remember how it used to be? You’d click on a tutorial for "How to fix a leaky sink," see 5,000 dislikes and 100 likes, and immediately close the tab. It was a safety net. It saved us time. Now? You’re flying blind. You might spend twenty minutes watching a video only to realize the person has no idea what they’re talking about, or worse, it’s a total scam.
The change was controversial, to say the least. YouTube claimed it was about protecting creators from "dislike attacks" and harassment. Critics, including the site's own co-founder Jawed Karim, called it a move that would destroy the platform's utility. Fast forward to today, and if you want to know how to show dislikes on youtube, you’re basically forced to rely on third-party workarounds that Google doesn’t exactly advertise.
The Return of the Dislike Button (Sorta)
There is really only one name you need to know if you want your metrics back: Return YouTube Dislike. It's an open-source project that has become the gold standard for anyone who misses the old ways. It’s a browser extension. It’s free. It’s actually pretty clever.
But here is the catch. It doesn’t actually pull "live" data from YouTube’s servers anymore because YouTube shut that API off years ago. Instead, it uses a mix of archived data from before the change and "user-submitted" data from everyone who has the extension installed. Basically, if you have the extension and you hit dislike, it logs that in their private database. Then, it uses an algorithm to estimate what the total count should be based on how many people are clicking.
It’s an estimate. It isn't perfect. But it’s surprisingly accurate for popular videos. If a video is brand new and only has ten views, the extension might struggle. But for that viral tech review or a controversial movie trailer? It’s usually spot on.
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Why Google Actually Did It
Google’s official stance was all about mental health and creator well-being. They said "dislike mobs" were targeting smaller creators. However, if you look at the business side, there’s a lot of speculation that this was actually about protecting big brands and movie studios.
Think about it. Big corporations hate it when their multi-million dollar ad campaigns or trailers get ratioed into oblivion. When a company spends $200 million on a movie and the trailer gets 1 million dislikes in a weekend, that’s a PR nightmare. By hiding the count, YouTube made the platform a much "safer" place for advertisers.
How to Get the Numbers Back on Your Screen
If you’re on a desktop, you’re in luck. The process is dead simple. You go to the Chrome Web Store or the Firefox Add-ons gallery and search for "Return YouTube Dislike."
You click install. You refresh your YouTube tab. Boom. The little gray bar is back.
It works on Chrome, Edge, Brave, and Firefox. If you use Safari, it’s a bit more of a headache because of how Apple handles extensions, but there are some users who manage to get it running via userscripts. Most people just switch to a Chromium-based browser when they want the full power-user experience.
What About Mobile?
This is where things get tricky. You can't just "install an extension" on the official YouTube app on your iPhone or Android. It’s a closed ecosystem.
For Android users, there used to be a legendary app called YouTube Vanced. It was incredible. It had ad-blocking, background play, and integrated the Return YouTube Dislike API. Google eventually sent them a cease-and-desist, which killed the project. Now, the spiritual successor is ReVanced.
Setting up ReVanced is not for the faint of heart. You have to download the official YouTube APK, download a "manager" app, and then patch the APK yourself. It’s a bit techy. You’re essentially building your own custom version of the app. But once you do, it’s like traveling back to 2015. Dislikes are back, ads are gone, and the UI is clean.
iPhone users? You’re mostly out of luck unless you’re willing to sideload apps using something like AltStore or if you use a modified browser like Orion that supports Chrome extensions. Most people just give up and accept the dislike-free life on mobile.
Is the Data Even Real?
This is a valid question. Since the extension uses "extrapolation," is it just making numbers up?
Not exactly. The developers behind Return YouTube Dislike have been very transparent. They have a massive database of historical dislikes from before the 2021 blackout. For new videos, they look at the ratio of likes-to-dislikes among their millions of active users.
If 10% of extension users dislike a video, they apply that ratio to the total view count. There is some math involved—specifically, they account for the fact that people who install a "dislike extension" might be more prone to disliking things than the average person. They call this "sampling bias." They adjust the numbers to try and reflect a more "neutral" audience. It’s a fascinating bit of data science born out of pure spite for a corporate decision.
The Philosophy of the Dislike
Why does this even matter? Some people say, "Just watch the video and decide for yourself."
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That’s fine for a 30-second cat video. It’s not fine for a 2-hour software programming tutorial. The dislike button acted as a democratic quality control mechanism. It was the only way to signal that a video was "misleading," "spam," or "dangerous" without having to read through 5,000 comments—many of which might be fake or bottled anyway.
Without the dislike count, the "Clickbait Meta" has exploded. Creators know they won't be publicly shamed for a terrible title or a misleading thumbnail. The only metric left is the comment section, and creators can just delete the bad comments or filter them out. The dislike button was the only thing they couldn't control.
Alternatives and Future Tech
Some people have tried to use "the comment method." You know the one. Someone comments "Dislike button here" and people like that comment to show their frustration. It’s messy. It’s unreliable. Half the time, the creator just pins a different comment to hide it.
There are also some websites where you can paste a URL to see the stats, but they all eventually lead back to the same Return YouTube Dislike API. There is no secret "hidden" button in the YouTube settings. There is no "pro" account that reveals it. Google has made it very clear: they don't want you to see it.
Technical Reality Check
If you’re a creator, you can still see your own dislikes in the YouTube Studio backend. You know exactly how many people hated your video. This is why the "protection" argument feels a bit thin. If the goal was to save the creator's mental health, why let them see the numbers at all?
The reality is that the public count was for the viewer, not the creator. Removing it was a fundamental shift in how we consume information online. We went from a community-vetted platform to a top-down broadcast model where the platform decides what "quality" looks like.
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The Best Way to Move Forward
If you want to restore the balance, here is the most effective path.
First, get off the official mobile app if you can. Use a mobile browser that supports extensions or dive into the ReVanced world if you're on Android. On desktop, the extension is a non-negotiable for anyone who values their time.
Second, pay attention to the "Like to View" ratio. Even without an extension, you can do some mental math. If a video has 1 million views but only 2,000 likes, something is usually wrong. Usually, about 1-5% of viewers will hit the like button on a "good" video. If that number is way lower, it's a red flag.
Finally, don't forget the "Report" button. If a video is actually a scam or harmful, a dislike wouldn't have saved everyone anyway. Reporting it is the only way to actually get it off the platform.
Actionable Steps for a Better YouTube Experience
To get the most out of your YouTube browsing today, you should immediately take these steps to reclaim the transparency that was lost.
- Install the Return YouTube Dislike extension on your primary desktop browser. It’s the closest you will get to the original experience and helps contribute data to keep the system accurate for everyone else.
- Audit your mobile usage. If you are an Android user, look into the ReVanced project. It is more than just a dislike restorer; it’s a full customization suite that returns control to the user.
- Cross-reference with the comments. If you’re unsure about a video’s quality and don’t have the extension, sort the comments by "Newest First." This is where you’ll find the uncurated opinions of people who just finished watching the video.
- Support creators who are vocal about transparency. Many creators actually want the dislike button back and will often mention their like-to-dislike ratios in their videos or community posts.
The internet is increasingly becoming a "black box" where algorithms decide what we see and how we perceive it. Restoring the dislike count is a small, technical act of rebellion that makes the web just a little bit more honest. It’s not just about a button; it’s about having the right to know if the information you’re about to consume is actually worth your time.