Is YouTube A/B testing removal of like and dislike buttons? This better be a temporary glitch

Is YouTube really testing a world without like and dislike buttons, or was this just a weird glitch that’s already gone away for most of us? Over the past few days, users on Reddit and X noted that they spotted something strange on YouTube. Icons were missing where they usually sit under videos.

Users posted screenshots showing the space under the video player, usually populated by the like, dislike, share, create, and download buttons, completely blank. Just the video title, view count, and then straight to the comments section. This seemed to be happening on the YouTube app and the web, causing confusion and, let’s be honest, a fair bit of annoyance.

Naturally, speculation ran wild almost immediately. Was this another one of YouTube’s infamous A/B tests? Were they seriously considering removing the fundamental like and dislike interactions? Given the platform’s history, particularly the still-controversial decision to hide public dislike counts back in 2021, the suspicion wasn’t entirely unfounded.

Some users immediately jumped to conclusions, fearing the worst. One user on Reddit, burn_healz, mentioned contacting support who called it a bug, but added, “I highly doubt that now. I think they are trying to do the same thing they were implementing a year ago, where they are disabling like and dislike features.” Others met the possibility with dark humor, like user Falconator100 who joked, “YouTube was like ‘f**k it, likes are making people feel too good about themselves’.”

Okay, let me just say, like many others, I wasn’t too happy about the removal of the dislike count, and now, if they remove the like and dislike buttons entirely (which I highly doubt is actually a test), YouTube will for sure anger millions of users. The ability to quickly signal approval or disapproval is pretty basic social media functionality. Removing it would feel like a huge step backward.

But as I mentioned, it doesn’t actually seem to be a test. For most users who experienced the disappearing act, the buttons returned shortly after, often within hours. Several of the original posters on Reddit updated their threads confirming it seemed to be a glitch and that things were back to normal. On my end, checking the YouTube app on both Android and iOS, as well as the website, everything looks perfectly fine – the like, dislike, and other buttons are present and accounted for.

So, while the initial reports definitely caused a stir and dredged up old anxieties about YouTube messing with core features, this particular incident strongly appears to have been a temporary bug rather than a deliberate test. The company even gave users a scare late last year after many noticed that the ‘Like’ counter went missing. That said, let’s hope this too is a temporary bug and the buttons stay. We’ve had enough changes, YouTube (looking at those huge thumbnails). Let us keep our thumbs, please.

Featured image credit: Already-Reddit_