Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) continues to develop a downvote feature that will be used to improve how replies are ranked. While the company has yet to officially announce its plans, recent findings suggest that the downvote feature may actually resemble a “dislike” button, rather than a Reddit-style downvote icon. Code references found in X's iOS app show a button that appears as a broken heart icon next to X's heart-shaped “like” button, as well as a direct reference to the “downvote” feature.
Twitter tested a downvote feature in 2021 prior to its acquisition by Elon Musk. However, at the time of the initial experiment, Twitter was testing both upvote and downvote buttons on every post. According to the latest tests, Twitter is only considering allowing downvoting on replies in order to surface better replies at the top of long threads and move less-liked replies further down the thread. This will prevent users from posting content specifically created to upset people or to try to garner dislikes as a form of engagement.
Earlier this month, reverse engineer Aaron Perris (@aaronp613 on X) discovered references to a downvote feature that was likely in development in X's iOS app. He's now found additional image files in the iOS app that show the button can be shaped like a broken heart, as well as a more direct reference to the feature itself.
In screenshots shared by X, Peris found that X's app contained several new references to a “downvote” feature, as well as strings asking users to take an action and confirm the downvote, such as messages like “Are you sure you want to downvote this post?” and messages simply instructing users to “Downvote this post.”
Judging by the wording (referring to “posts” and not just “replies”), it's unclear whether X is currently considering introducing the downvote feature to all posts on the platform, or just replies.
Another X user, @P4mui, also shared a video of the like button in action, including a user asking not to like replies to a post. The user, who enabled the like button using a feature flag, added that for the time being the button is only available on replies, but he wasn't sure if that would change later.
The Dislike button was also reportedly visible on an X employee's account, who shared a video demo of a new way to expand replies. The post was quickly deleted and reposted without the Dislike button.
Given the increasing number of sightings, it seems likely that further public testing of the Dis Like Button is taking place.
This isn't the only change X has made to its “like” system under Musk's ownership: More recently, X began hiding likes from public view, allowing people to like more “edgy” content to protect their image, in Musk's words.