TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Facebook testing a ‘downvote' button to judge people's comments
Change Size
Facebook headquarters at 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, California, United States. (Shutterstock/File)
Facebook Inc. is testing a button that would let users “downvote” other people’s comments on public posts.
The button, which simply says "Downvote," appears to the right of "Like" and "Reply" options below a comment. The button is intended to notify Facebook about uncivil or misleading comments. The world’s largest social network is testing it in the short-term for a small percentage of U.S. users, and it currently doesn’t affect how prominently a post is featured in a list of comments, a company representative said.
Read also: Facebook and Instagram ‘likes’ are influencing our travel decisions, study shows
A wider implementation of the button would go against Facebook’s prior stance that any kind of downvote or dislike button would spread negativity on the site. In a rethinking of the "Like" button in 2016, for example, the social network added a slate of other reactions, including "Love" and "Sad," meant to be emotions in response to a post, rather than judgments on the post’s ranking.
The test was reported earlier by the Daily Beast. The feature is similar to one in use on the online bulletin board Reddit.
“We are not testing a dislike button,” the company said in a statement. “We are exploring a feature for people to give us feedback about comments on public page posts.”
