Social Media Platform X Is Building A Dislike Button For Replies

Elon Musk’s social media platform X is testing a new dislike button for post replies that will affect how these rank. X hasn’t confirmed this information but multiple users on the platform have reported it.

According to TechCrunch, the company—formerly Twitter—had already tested this feature across all posts in 2021. Now, the new function seems to be working only for selected users. The icon looks like a broken heart on the iOS app and is located right next to the heart—like— button. Users have shared videos of how the new button looks like and how it works.

INSIGHT: The new dislike button in action seems to only be intended for replies https://t.co/QDGadIDtPd

— X Daily News (@xDaily) July 11, 2024

MacRumors researcher Aaron Perris shared on X, images of the icons X is testing and how it works. After clicking on the dislike icon, a message requesting to confirm the decision shows up: “Do you want to downvote this post?” Other users got similar messages with different wording.

People have shown interest and opinions on this new feature, and have compared it to other platforms like Reddit’s downvote feature. “On Reddit this just leads to zealous groups who dislike certain things to brigade hated posts with negatives to unduly affect the perception of it and bury it,” explained one user, “It also leads to dissent (people who don’t fit in or go against the groups core views) being negged into the ground even if they make a good point.” Another user seemed to find a clear purpose: “Let’s all agree to dislike that posts that have nothing to do with the original content.”

NEWS: X is testing a dislike button pic.twitter.com/g77JX99a9s

— X Daily News (@xDaily) July 10, 2024

This new feature comes just weeks after X announced that they will be removing the Likes section from profiles and that this will remain a private feature. Likes on posts are still an active feature, but users cannot see who liked the post.
X has been working on multiple updates this year. From officially changing the URL from Twitter.com to X.com, to likes features updates, to ending partnerships with other companies.