YouTube Tests Hiding Dislike Button in Three-Dots Menu

What happened

YouTube appears to be testing a change that hides the dislike button on videos, moving it into the three-dots submenu for some viewers. The development was first reported by 9to5Google, and The Verge has since covered it.

At least two users on X have shared screenshots showing the dislike control inside that submenu. A Reddit user has also posted an image in which the button was missing altogether. Taken together, these posts suggest the change may not appear the same way for every account, although the reporting does not confirm how widely the test is running or how long it will last.

The coverage available here does not include an official statement from YouTube explaining the test or its intended purpose. Until one is published, the picture rests on user-shared screenshots and the original report.

Why it matters

The dislike button is a highly visible feedback signal, and where a control sits determines how much effort it takes to use. Moving it behind a menu adds a step for anyone who wants to register disapproval. Small changes in what is one tap away can meaningfully change what people bother to express, which makes this a familiar friction question in interface design rather than a simple yes-or-no decision about visibility.

For organisations well beyond video platforms, the story is a reminder that feedback mechanisms are product decisions with behavioural consequences. Any change to how users register an opinion alters both the data a platform collects and the social cues other users see when they arrive at content.

The Renascence take

Most coverage of this kind will frame the question as whether dislikes should be visible at all. The more useful lens is the default architecture: when a control moves, the behaviour it produces changes, even if nobody formally removes the feature.

The real design question is not whether people can still dislike a video, but how much effort it takes to say so. Burying a signal in a three-dots menu is a friction decision, and friction decisions shape both what audiences express and how creators read their audience. A customer-obsessed operator should treat every feedback control as a measurable behavioural lever, test the effect on participation rather than only on satisfaction scores, and be open with users when the mechanism changes.