X is building a 'dislike' button for downvoting replies
Elon Musk's X, formerly Twitter, is continuing to develop a downvoting feature that will be used to improve how replies are ranked. Although the company has not yet officially announced its plans, more recent findings indicate the downvote feature may actually resemble a "dislike" button instead of a Reddit-style downvote icon. Code references found in the X iOS app now show a button that appears as a broken heart icon next to X's heart-shaped "like" button as well as direct references to a "downvote" feature.
As Twitter, the company tested downvoting in 2021, ahead of Elon Musk’s acquisition. At the time of the original experiment, however, Twitter had tested both upvoting and downvoting buttons across all posts. The latest tests indicate that X is only considering allowing downvotes on replies, to help showcase the better replies at the top of a long thread while moving less-liked replies further down the thread. That could prevent users from posting content designed specifically to anger people and trying to generate dislikes as a form of engagement.
Earlier this month, reverse engineer Aaron Perris, @aaronp613 on X, found references in X's iOS app that referenced a downvote feature that appeared to be in development. He's now found additional image files in the iOS app that indicate the button could be styled as a broken heart as well as more direct references to the feature itself.
https://twitter.com/aaronp613/status/1811493040055275554
In screenshots shared on X, Perris found that X's app now includes several newly added references to a "downvoting" function as well as strings of text that ask the user to take action and confirm their downvote. For example, one reads "Do you want to downvote this post?," while another simply instructs the user to "Downvote this post."
Given the wording -- which references "posts" and not just "replies" -- it's not clear if X is now considering bringing a downvote feature to all posts on the platform or only just replies.
Another user, @P4mui on X, also shared videos of the dislike button in action, including one where a user asked them to dislike their reply to the post. The user, who had enabled the dislike button using a feature flag, additionally noted that the button was only available on replies for the time being, but they weren't sure if that would later change.
https://twitter.com/P4mui/status/1811495151837065586
The dislike button was also reportedly spotted on an X employee's account who had shared a video demo of a new way to expand replies. That post was quickly deleted and reposted without the dislike button in view.
Given the growing number of sightings, it seems likely that more public tests of a dislike button are underway.
This isn't the only change X has made to its "likes" system under Musk's ownership. More recently, X began to hide likes from public view, allowing people, as Musk put it, to like more "edgy" content and protect their image.
