According to a video posted by Youtube Creators, the video sharing platform will no longer have public dislike counts. The decision comes after experiments by YouTube in early 2021—trying to find out if it reduced dislike attacks on the website.

“Apparently, groups of viewers are targeting a video’s Dislike button to drive up the account. Turning it into something like a game with a visible scoreboard. And it’s usually just because they don’t like the creator or what they stand for. That’s a problem when half of YouTube’s mission is to give everyone a voice.”

After analysis conducted in July 2021, YouTube claims there was a reduction. Although users will still be able to dislike videos — something that will help tune a viewers’ recommendations — the like and dislike statistics for videos will only be viewable by their creators in YouTube Studio. 

The video goes on to address common concerns voiced during the experiment. In regards to questions about the new system’s impact on users’ ability to tell if a video is worth watching, the video states that the data YouTube examined showed no noticeable difference in viewership, regardless of the dislike count’s presence. 

Though creators will still be able to see their dislike numbers, the move is geared to help creators’ voices. 

“They can see it if they look for it inside Studio Analytics, under the Engagement tab. But overall, it’s much less likely to cause stress and embarrassment if the count isn’t visible to the public.” The video then goes on to assure that the decision had nothing to the high amount of dislikes given to YouTube Rewind. 

The like and dislike counter was present on YouTube since 2009 — replacing the website’s original 5-star rating system.