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>same for removing dislikes to protect corporations from negative press I like how the internet accepts this as a fact, despite there being zero evidence for t
by Aunche 4y ago
>same for removing dislikes to protect corporations from negative press
I like how the internet accepts this as a fact, despite there being zero evidence for this. It doesn't matter that corporations were historically a lot less likely to hide dislikes than independent creators. It doesn't matter that corporations that get a lot of dislikes aren't ones that that advertise much on Youtube (e.g. CNN), so they wouldn't have any leverage. It doesn't matter if they threatened to stop advertising, they'd hurt themselves as much as they'd hurt Google because the existence of the dislike button doesn't make ads any less valuable. What matters is that Google is a big corporation, and big corporations are all friends with each other.
People, think this sort of vague outrage towards "the elite" is productive, but ironically it just screws them over. Any sleazy politician or cryto influencer can peddle the same vague outrage to easily amass support.
- rfrey 4y agoWhat's your explanation, then? The "protect advertisers" theory wasn't just born out of outrage IMO, it's also the simplest explanation.
- Aunche 4y ago> it's also the simplest explanation Care to address all the reasons why I described this is unlikely? > What's your explanation, then? The simplest explanation is their official one that they want to protect smaller creators from brigading. The simplest cynical explanation is that they noticed from A/B tests that hiding dislikes increases user retention, which is more profitable for them. It's likely a mix of both.
- origin_path 4y agoIIRC that decision was made shortly after Wojcicki (YT chief at the time) posted a video that got some incredibly huge quantity of dislikes vs likes, and/or Biden had the same issue. Don't recall the exact timeline. Dislikes disappeared shortly afterwards. Seems more likely it was in response to powerful people being upset at being disliked than commercial imperatives.
- throwuwu 4y agoCan’t decide if wilfully blind, thoroughly propagandized or just carrying water. Guess it doesn’t matter in the end.
- creatonez 4y ago> It doesn't matter that corporations were historically a lot less likely to hide dislikes than independent creators Is there data on this? I've seen hiding the likes bar to be significantly more common in videos published by corporations. Especially when it's a video talking about a product. News media like CNN usually had the bar enabled, but nearly every other genre of corporate videos had the bar disabled.