YouTube removed the dislike counter on November 10th, citing a desire to reduce "dislike attacks" that disproportionately affect smaller channels. However, a creator is skeptical of this reasoning, suggesting that YouTube's true motivation may be to follow the trend of removing negative interactions from online platforms.
The creator discusses an open-source project, Return YouTube Dislike, that restores the dislike counter by using data from the YouTube API and user contributions. However, the project's accuracy is limited, and it raises privacy concerns.
The creator argues that removing the dislike counter does not effectively address the issue of "dislike attacks" and may even create new problems, such as making it easier for malicious actors to manipulate content. They suggest that YouTube could have used other methods to combat harassment, such as origin and user behavior tracking.
The video concludes with the creator deciding to use the Return YouTube Dislike extension and encouraging others to do the same, despite some reservations about the project's motivations and potential consequences.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. YouTube announced the removal of the dislike counter on November 10th.
2. The stated purpose of this change was to reduce "dislike attacks," a type of targeted harassment that disproportionately affects smaller channels.
3. The YouTube API, which allows developers to access key stats, was still reporting true dislike counts after the announcement.
4. A project was created to restore the dislike counter, which involves using the YouTube API to pull dislike data and inject it into the page.
5. The project is hosted on ReturnYoutubeDislike.com and can be installed as a browser extension.
6. The extension uses data from before December 13th, when API access to dislikes was removed, to estimate dislike counts for videos.
7. The project leader, Dmitrii, pulled data from 250 million videos before the API cutoff.
8. The extension uses a combination of publicly available data and user-submitted data to estimate dislike counts.
9. The project is open-source, and the code is mostly publicly available.
10. The extension has some limitations, such as not working for new videos or live streams.
11. The project is working on integrating metadata from 4.56 billion videos to improve accuracy.
12. The extension uses a combination of user-submitted data and publicly available data to estimate dislike counts.
13. The project is not perfect and has some limitations, but it is a step in the right direction.
14. The author of the video is using the extension and has seen mostly accurate results.
15. The author is concerned about the potential for the extension to be used for malicious purposes, such as promoting online content piracy.
16. The author is also concerned about the potential for the extension to be used to manipulate dislike counts.
17. The author believes that YouTube should have found a better solution to address the issue of dislike attacks, such as using AI to detect and prevent harassment.
18. The author believes that the removal of the dislike counter is a step in the wrong direction and may have unintended consequences.
19. The author is using a password manager, NordPass, to keep their passwords organized and secure.
20. NordPass is offering a 70% discount on their premium service, which includes additional features such as password generation and secure storage.