YouTube Tests Moving Dislike Control into Desktop Overflow Menu

Overview

• Users on Reddit and X reported this week that a small A/B test has moved the dislike option from the action bar into the three-dots overflow menu on YouTube’s desktop player.
• The test places the dislike action behind an extra click, so viewers in the test group must open the menu to find the thumbs-down control next to the report option.
• Creators and viewers pushed back quickly, saying burying the control makes it harder to give fast negative feedback used to avoid bad tutorials, misleading thumbnails, or poor technical guides.
• YouTube previously hid public dislike counts in 2021 and removed the dislike button from Shorts earlier in 2026, and the company has not confirmed whether the desktop test will roll out more broadly.
• Google runs small interface experiments to measure user behavior and creators still see private dislike metrics in YouTube Studio for diagnostics, but a wider change could alter how audiences and makers spot low-quality content.