YouTube Tests Hiding Dislike Button on Desktop Videos

Burying the thumbs-down in an overflow menu would make negative feedback harder to leave.

Overview

Multiple users on Reddit and posts on X showed the dislike control moved into a three-dot overflow menu on YouTube’s desktop site, putting it beside the Report option.
Tech outlets traced the report to a Neowin-highlighted X post and confirmed the change is appearing for a subset of users rather than as a public rollout.
9to5Google and other testers could not consistently reproduce the hidden-dislike layout, which points to a limited A/B experiment that Google often runs to test interface changes.
Creators and viewers worry the extra click will reduce quick negative feedback that helps spot bad tutorials and misleading videos, while creators still retain private dislike analytics in YouTube Studio.
The test follows YouTube’s 2021 removal of public dislike counts and a similar hiding of the dislike control on Shorts earlier this year, which together show a steady move to de-emphasize visible negative reactions.