If the dislike button becomes a permanent TikTok staple, it will mark just the latest in a string of pretty fundamental overhauls to TikTok’s product design. Back in February, TikTok boosted the maximum length of its videos to 10 minutes, up from its previous limit of three. Seven more minutes of content might not seem like a huge jump, but it’s worth keeping in mind that TikTok’s maximum video length was capped at just 15 seconds when the app first launched in 2016. Competitors like Instagram and Facebook, meanwhile are heading the other direction, opting to emphasize shorter-length videos.
TikTok’s new approach to dislikes comes around six months after YouTube announced it would hide video dislike count on its platform. At the time, YouTube said its internal testing had shown removing dislikes reduced the frequency of dislike attacks and could potentially help dissuade unwanted harassment on the platform. Not everyone was thrilled with YouTube’s choice though. A group of developers even went as far as to create an open-source browser extension, called “Return YouTube Dislike,” that pulls dislike data from YouTube’s API for users to see.