So why don’t you see a dislike option on tweets despite there being talk of the feature?
No, You Cannot Dislike Tweets
There is currently no feature available to dislike or downvote a tweet. Instead of dislikes, Twitter uses other metrics to determine the popularity of a tweet and who to suggest tweets to on their timeline.
Only positive reactions like likes, retweets, and quote tweets are available on both mobile and desktop Twitter. Users can, of course, still reply to any tweet to voice their dislike or negative opinion.
Twitter Did a Limited Test on Downvotes Once
If you think you saw a dislike button on Twitter once or have seen people talking about one, that is because Twitter ran a test of a dislike button that was only available to a limited number of users in 2021 and 2022. The test feature has since disappeared entirely.
The dislike button was only available on replies, not original tweets. The number of dislikes that a reply got was not displayed. It was a private metric that Twitter was testing to use for helping them determine what content people wanted to see.
The feature disappeared in 2022, leaving some users who had the button confused. Others who never had it, did not really notice a difference. Twitter made no announcement of the change or if they had any success in the test runs.
It is not clear if the downvote feature will return or expand. Since Elon Musk bought Twitter in late 2022, there have been several changes to both the platform and the company. In the chaos, the future of the downvote button has gotten lost.
Should Twitter Let You Dislike Tweets?
The idea of a dislike button has long been controversial, with it working on some platforms like Reddit, but never seeing success on a platform like Instagram. It is not always clear why it works on some platforms and not others.
TikTok is the latest social media brand to employ a dislike button on its comments, according to Forbes. TikTok hopes its dislike button will provide another way for users to give feedback on what types of content they like to see. You can also hold down on a TikTok and tap the Not interested button to give feedback on TikToks that show up on your For You Page.
This is a similar intent to what Twitter was looking to do with its dislike button—providing an easy method of feedback, so they can better suggest tweets they think you would be interested to see.
With such limited testing though, it is hard to know if the dislike button is actually working. Many argue a dislike button just allows people to be mean to those they disagree with on social media and to silence controversial or nuanced opinions by disliking them to death.
No Downvotes on Twitter Yet
Downvotes or dislikes may make a comeback to Twitter one day, but for now they are nowhere to be seen. With Twitter’s future and leadership so uncertain, it seems that testing dislikes are just not a priority right now.
Once things at Twitter calm down, a downvote or dislike button may be a helpful tool to suggest content on the platform. Don’t be surprised if one day you notice a dislike button at the bottom of the tweets on your timeline.
