You remember the Great Dislike Purge of 2021. It felt like a digital lobotomy for the internet. Suddenly, that familiar little thumb went gray, the counter vanished, and we were all left squinting at the screen wondering if a tutorial was actually going to help us fix a sink or just flood the kitchen. But here’s the thing about likes and dislikes on YouTube: they didn't actually go away. They just went underground, and their impact on what you see every single time you open the app is more powerful than it’s ever been.
YouTube isn't just a video hosting site anymore. It’s a prediction machine. Every time you tap that like button, you aren't just giving a creator a virtual high-five; you are feeding a massive, complex neural network a very specific data point about your identity. And that dislike button? Even though you can't see the public tally anymore, the algorithm sees it. It hears your silent "no thanks" loud and clear.
The Invisible Power of the Dislike Button
Honestly, the removal of public dislike counts was one of the most controversial UI changes in tech history. YouTube’s official stance, voiced by Creator Liaison Rene Ritchie and various team members in technical deep dives, was that it protected smaller creators from "dislike bombing" and harassment. Critics, however, felt it was a move to protect big brands and corporate trailers from public embarrassment. Think back to the YouTube Rewind 2018 disaster—it still holds the record for the most disliked video ever.
But if you think the dislike button is useless now, you're mistaken. It serves as a primary signal for the recommendation engine. When you dislike a video, you are essentially telling the system to "stop showing me this and things like this." It’s a negative constraint. Without that input, the algorithm would be a blind beast, guessing your preferences based only on what you watch.
The data is still there for the creator, too. Inside the YouTube Studio dashboard, creators see the exact percentage of likes vs. dislikes. They use this to pivot. If a tech reviewer suddenly sees a 40% dislike rate on a new format, they know they’ve alienated their core audience. The feedback loop is still alive; it’s just private.
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The Extension Workaround
Of course, the internet finds a way. The "Return YouTube Dislike" browser extension is used by millions. It uses a mix of archived data from before the change and "extrapolated data" from its own user base to estimate what the dislike count should be. It’s not 100% accurate—it’s a statistical guess—but it’s often close enough to warn you if a "Free iPhone" video is actually a scam. This demonstrates a fundamental human need for crowdsourced quality control. We want to know what the tribe thinks before we invest twenty minutes of our lives.
How Likes and Dislikes on YouTube Feed the Beast
Let’s talk about "The Algorithm." It’s a buzzword, sure, but it’s really just a series of ranking systems. According to a 2016 research paper by Google engineers (Paul Covington et al.), the system uses "Deep Neural Networks for YouTube Recommendations." They look at two things: candidate generation and ranking.
Likes and dislikes on YouTube are critical during the ranking phase.
Imagine you search for "how to bake sourdough." The system finds 5,000 videos. To decide which one goes at the top, it looks at:
- How many people clicked.
- How long they stayed.
- The ratio of likes to dislikes.
If a video has a massive "like" velocity—meaning it gets a ton of likes shortly after being posted—the algorithm interprets this as high-quality, trending content. It pushes it to more "Home" feeds. It’s a snowball effect. Conversely, a high dislike-to-watch-time ratio acts as a lead weight. It sinks the video.
Interestingly, a dislike is actually "better" for a creator than no engagement at all. Why? Because engagement is engagement. If someone watches the whole video and then dislikes it, they still gave the platform 10 minutes of watch time and ad revenue. However, if they dislike and leave immediately, that’s the kiss of death. That tells YouTube the video is "clickbait"—it promised one thing and delivered something people hated.
The Psychology of the Click
Why do we even hit the button?
Social validation is a hell of a drug. When we like a video, we are often signaling our membership in a subculture. Liking a niche video about 19th-century weaving isn't just about the content; it’s about telling the system (and ourselves), "I am a person who likes 19th-century weaving."
But there is a dark side. The "negativity bias" means we are much more likely to engage when we are angry. Before the count was hidden, the public dislike bar was a weapon. It was a way to participate in a collective "boo" from the digital stands. Now that the booing is silent, some argue that the "comments section" has become more toxic because it’s the only place left to vent frustration.
Does it actually help creators?
For most creators, the "Like" button is a metric for sponsorship deals. Brands don't just look at views; they look at engagement rate. A channel with 100,000 views and 50 likes looks suspicious. It looks like the views were bought. A channel with 10,000 views and 2,000 likes? That’s a highly engaged, loyal community. That’s where the money is.
Beyond the Thumb: The "Don't Recommend" Factor
There is a third, hidden player in this game: the "Not Interested" and "Don't Recommend Channel" buttons. These are the nuclear options of likes and dislikes on YouTube.
While a dislike says "I didn't like this specific video," the "Don't Recommend" button tells the AI to execute the entire channel from your digital existence. This is a much stronger signal. If you find yourself constantly disliking a specific creator, you are actually doing it wrong. You should be using the "Not Interested" feature. Disliking keeps you engaged with the content; removing the recommendation cuts the cord entirely.
A New Era of Quality Control
We have moved into an era where "Watch Time" and "Retention" are the kings, but likes and dislikes on YouTube remain the court advisors. They provide the emotional context that a raw "view" number cannot.
If you want to actually improve your experience on the platform, you have to be intentional. Stop being a "passive scroller." The AI is trying to mirror you. If you "like" garbage, you will get a feed full of garbage. If you use the dislike button to filter out low-effort content, your "Recommended" tab will slowly transform into something actually useful.
Actionable Steps to Master Your Feed
- Audit your "Liked Videos" playlist. This is the blueprint YouTube uses to profile you. If there’s stuff in there from five years ago that you no longer care about, remove it. It’s confusing the machine.
- Use the Dislike button as a filter, not a weapon. Use it on videos that are objectively misleading or poor quality to train your "Home" feed. Don't just use it because you disagree with an opinion; that often just tells the algorithm you’re interested in "controversial" topics, which leads to more rage-bait.
- Leverage the "Not Interested" tool. If a certain topic keeps popping up and you’re over it, click the three dots next to the video and hit "Not Interested." This is more effective than a dislike for cleaning up your UI.
- Install "Return YouTube Dislike" if you're on desktop. It’s not perfect, but it restores that vital "community warning" system that helps you avoid wasting time on broken tutorials or scams.
- Understand the "Ratio." If you see a video where the comments are turned off and it’s a controversial topic, it’s a safe bet the dislike ratio was astronomical. Use that as a red flag for bias.
The relationship between users and the platform is a constant tug-of-war. YouTube wants to keep you watching as long as possible to show you ads. You want to find value. By being deliberate with your likes and dislikes, you stop being a product of the algorithm and start becoming its architect.