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A comment on Testing a few new designs that don't show the public dislike count. Parent comment

Re:Testing a few new designs that don't show the public disl... by EricE on Wednesday March 31, 2021 @06:36PM (#26654025)
Downvotes increase engagement. Otherwise they wouldn't have been put there in the first place.

No, the real issue here is too many of the "right" things are getting downvoted. So when The White House, Disney or the Academy disable downvotes on part or all of their videos but other wide swaths of videos don't need to disable downvotes, the contrast causes them to stick out like a sore thumb.

It calls attention (also known as engagement) - but not the kind of attention those who run social media companies want. Attention that is counter to the desired narratives is unacceptable. So here we go with the lame excuses that are all the sudden relevant when they weren't when the like/dislike stuff was instated decades ago?

Give me a break.

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Re:Testing a few new designs that don't show the public disl... by jetpks on Wednesday March 31, 2021 @06:59PM (#26654248)
You are all over this thread claiming that the White House is explicitly pressuring Google to remove this feature of the site. Do you have supporting evidence, or did you just make this up? It seems more like you have a narrative and agenda to push.
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Re:Testing a few new designs that don't show the public disl... by jokethrowaway on Wednesday March 31, 2021 @07:09PM (#26654355)
The White House is just the last one whose videos dislikes are being made fun of and shared in memes

I'm sure YouTube consulted with their biggest customers and partners before removing a functionality that increases engagement

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Re:Testing a few new designs that don't show the public disl... by daemoens on Wednesday March 31, 2021 @08:06PM (#26654960)
Yeah the only reason The White House YouTube channel receives views right now is because Trump used it to to campaign and it became fairly popular amongst his supporters. It's main audience is still his supporters because most people don't really watch The White House on YouTube.
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Re:Testing a few new designs that don't show the public disl... by EricE on Wednesday March 31, 2021 @07:18PM (#26654450)
I didn't say anyone, let alone the White House is pressuring them to remove anything. Why would the WH have to pressure them? I have zero doubt that Google is pushing this themselves.

What I firmly believe, based on statements by the companies and the employees that work for them as well as their actions (over the past five years in particular) is they have a particular agenda to push and if you aren't on the right side of their messaging they intend to suppress it by any means possible.

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Re:Testing a few new designs that don't show the public disl... by creaghpatr on Wednesday March 31, 2021 @07:15PM (#26654416)
Where in the comment do they claim “the White House is explicitly pressuring Google to remove this feature”?
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Re:Testing a few new designs that don't show the public disl... by bobthechef on Wednesday March 31, 2021 @07:25PM (#26654534)
The revolving door and growing ties between Google and segments of government strongly suggests a constant flow of information and the creation of incentives in a way that create a common understanding across both. Meaning, you might not need to "tell" anyone to do anything in particular. Your ties create common interest and once two groups, here relatively fluid groups with fuzzy boundaries, share a common interest, no explicit coordination is necessary.
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