Facebook Is Testing A "Downvote" Button, But You Can't Use It For Your Friends' Posts
Then for what?
By John Lim — 12 Feb 2018, 01:03 PM
In 2016, Facebook opted to roll out Reactions instead of a dislike button because the latter was deemed as too "negative" by the company
But a series of images that have recently surfaced on Twitter suggests that the social media giant is working on a button which will allow users to express disapproval on questionable comments
Facebook has confirmed to The Daily Beast that it is indeed testing a "Downvote" button.
While it's easy to think of it as the antithesis to Like, Facebook told The Verge that's not the case at all.
"We are not testing a dislike button. We are exploring a feature for people to give us feedback about comments on public posts," the spokesperson said.
Tapping the Downvote button will allow users to label a comment on public page posts as "offensive, "misleading", or "off topic"
From the looks of it, the button functions as a moderation tool to help Facebook vet out inappropriate comments.
"We are exploring a feature for people to give us feedback about comments on public page posts. This is running for a small set of people in the US only," the spokesperson added.
Facebook already has a “Hide” button for comments, but it’s usually hidden behind the drop-down arrow on comments rather than being immediately clickable.
Unlike Reddit's community-controlled comment system, the option will not affect the visibility of a post
"Downvoting" was heavily popularised on Reddit for its comment ranking system, where a post can be buried to oblivion if it acquires too many Downvotes.
There are currently no plans to roll out the "Downvote" test to a broader user base, and it’s unclear how the platform will be using the data it gathers from the button.