Twitter ‘experimenting’ with adding dislike button

The move is not a top priority, according to Twitter product lead Kayvon Beykpour

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Twitter might add a dislike button, according to one of its product leads.

The revelation was shared by Twitter’s Kayvon Beykpour, who recently also announced fleets.

The dislike button is “something we’re exploring”, Beykpour tweeted  in a reply to security expert Jackie Singh.

However, Beykpour also said that it was not a top priority for the company.

“Instead of feature development how about you focus on the following REAL PROBLEMS instead”, Singh had said, suggesting a number of changes Twitter could make in addition to the dislike button such as removing coordinated inauthentic behaviour, improving the company’s response to harassment, and better tackling disinformation.

Beykpour responded that those changes were “literally [Twitter’s] top priority” and they had “made a lot of progress but still lots to do [and] feel it’s important to solve other problems too”.

Twitter has had a version of a dislike button hidden in its Android and iOS apps since 2017 – but rather than making users’ distaste visible to others it affects the algorithm.

Under the sharing options for a tweet, including adding it to a moment or sending it via social apps, is a button that states: “I do not like this tweet”.

Tapping that button, as Twitter’s support page explains, “helps Twitter better understand the types of Tweets that you'd like to see less of in your Home timeline.”

Recently, Twitter introduced fleets – similar to Stories on Snapchat and Instagram – which is designed to help users feel more comfortable participating on the platform in a "lower pressure way", the company said.

People can choose to post text, reactions to tweets with the tweet attached, photos or videos, as well as the ability to customise them with background and text options.

As well as Fleets, Twitter is introducing “Spaces”, which will allow for group chats via voice recordings, similar to its voice tweet function.

Currently, that function is being rolled out to women and people of colour before reaching Twitter’s wider user base. If it proves successful, the feature will be coming later this year.