YouTube appears to be testing a new layout that hides the dislike button, according to a report from 9to5Google. At least two users on X have recently shared screenshots showing the dislike button relocated to the three-dots submenu, and a user on Reddit also posted an image of the button being completely absent from their view.

For the uninitiated, the dislike button currently sits right next to the like button under a video - a convenient, one-click way to express displeasure. Moving it to a submenu would make it considerably more of an effort to access, which, in the grand tradition of user-experience design, means fewer people would likely use it. It's a subtle nudge: out of sight, out of mind, and out of the metrics.

It's unclear how widely this apparent test may be rolled out, and Google didn't immediately reply to a request for comment - because of course they didn't.

This isn't YouTube's first flirtation with dislike-button demotion. In 2021, the platform hid the public dislike count on videos to help "protect creators from harassment," though creators can still see the tally in their analytics. Earlier this year, YouTube removed the dislike button from YouTube Shorts entirely, suggesting users instead take advantage of options in the three-dots menu. The pattern is clear: the dislike button is being slowly escorted to a quiet corner where it can think about what it's done.