Meta is finally ready to launch the ‘dislike’ button on its platforms. Announced several times in the past, both for Facebook and Instagram, this time it seems that we are finally there, at least judging by the tests that the company is carrying out on both social media platforms. Facebook is the social network with the highest number of monthly active users, a record due to many factors, including the choice of the ‘like’ button, the thumbs-up symbol chosen in 2009 to represent appreciation for the content.

The icon has become a symbol of an era, so much so that it has been conceptually adopted by Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, which have transformed the thumb into a heart. Over the past few weeks, more users have shared information about the ‘dislike’ button, which has appeared to a small number of subscribers on Facebook and Instagram.

The limits of social media

This is certainly not the first time Meta has experimented with the possibility of expressing disapproval of content. However, in the past, it was Mark Zuckerberg who rejected any possibility of introducing a dislike button, arguing that he did not want to risk poisoning social media, as dislikes could encourage cyberbullying and mass actions aimed at targeting certain content or profiles.

Perhaps, however, something has changed, and there is a chance that a feature will be introduced that allows users to report content they deem irrelevant or unacceptable. In order to avoid the thumbs down, Facebook added Reactions in 2016, heralding the success of emojis. Among the various emoticons, there was no one capable of symbolising a negative reaction, forcing users to write a negative comment or status.

This has been and still is a clear limitation of social media. Think of all the times a friend shares news about the death of a loved one, an accident or the outcome of a job interview. To show sympathy and support, Facebook allows you to like a post, which is not exactly the ideal graphic element for commenting on dramatic and unexpected news. The same concept applies when you want to express dissent against crimes or disasters.

Negative and anonymous comments

The launch of the dislike test is, therefore, interesting and vital. However, it is currently limited to comments and is anonymous because the number of dislikes is only visible to those who have commented negatively. Meta does not send notifications about this, and even the authors of a comment cannot know that someone did not like their words. A surprise is the icon chosen by Meta, which is not a thumbs-down but an arrow pointing downwards.

Only those who judge a comment negatively will see the number of users who have previously shared the same reaction. There is no certainty that the form will remain the same in the future; after all, the like was originally represented by a star, and for now, there is no information on the possible expansion of the feature. No details have been released from Meta’s headquarters, other than the admission that a test is underway: ‘We are testing a new button that will allow a small group of users to privately report if they feel uncomfortable with a particular comment’.

Dislike useful for improving quality?

The few words released by Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, were more useful. ‘It’s a mechanism that gives people a private way to report that a comment is not convincing. The hope is that it will help make comments on Instagram more friendly,’ Mosseri wrote on Threads.

It should be noted that Meta will not be the first company to focus on dislikes, as YouTube introduced them many years ago, although, in 2021, it hid dislikes to prevent brigading, which is when people coordinate attacks to bury a video.

Reddit also allows users to show their disapproval of content and comments with a downvote, which alternates with an upvote in a system designed to promote or penalise the relevance of content based on the type of reactions it triggers. TikTok introduced dislikes in 2022 for comments only to allow members to report content they consider inappropriate. Netflix, on the other hand, has chosen to offer viewers the option to show their dislike for films and TV series with a dislike button, one of three options available alongside like and double like.

For Facebook, anonymous dislikes could be one of the elements that can be used to improve the quality of content shared on the platform. Meta wants to give less prominence to bots that penalise discussions under posts. However, it also wants to reduce the visibility of accounts that engage in bad practices, such as excessive use of hashtags and posting content with misleading images. At the same time, Zuckerberg has announced new measures against fake interactions and fake profiles that pose as popular creators. The desire to bring order to content and reward those who follow the rules and use common sense to create and share appropriate, high-quality content is undoubtedly a point in Meta’s favour. Let’s hope the company is able to deliver on its promises.