Twitter Expands Downvote Test Worldwide

Twitter is globally expanding its testing of the downvote feature, a new "dislike" or thumbs down button for tweets, the company revealed on Friday.

The feature was initially given to a select group of web users, but Twitter affirmed that it will soon be available to iOS and Android users as well.

https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1489355689554333710?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1489355689554333710%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2022%2F2%2F4%2F22917511%2Ftwitter-downvotes-test-experiment-feature-relevant-replies

The company noted that results of the experiment so far found that users downvoted replies they found offensive or irrelevant.

It said: “This experiment also revealed that downvoting is the most frequently used way for people to flag content they don’t want to see.”

Basically, users used it instead of muting a conversation or flagging it as spam or irrelevant.

Hence, the app concluded that access to downvoting “improves the quality of conversations on Twitter,” suggesting the feature might eventually graduate to become a permanent addition to the site.

Downvotes and dislikes are a simple way for users to give feedback on online content, but they can also be problematic. They can be used in campaigns of targeted harassment, for example, and if they became part of Twitter’s algorithm they could be used to silence dissenting opinion.