X’s dislike button for replies went from a user’s wishful post to a live rollout in a few minutes. X product head Nikita Bier replied, “Give me 60 seconds” to someone asking for the feature at around 9:10 am today. By 9:18 am, Insider Wire had already posted screenshots of the button live on their account.
Right now it’s a limited rollout. A chunk of users are seeing the dislike icon sitting next to the like button on replies, while plenty of others are reporting they still can’t find it. Insider Wire noted it initially looked like a test group thing, then updated that it seemed to be spreading to more accounts. The usual uneven server-side rollout, basically.
This is not a brand new idea for the platform. Back in July 2024, TechCrunch reported that X was actively building the feature, with code in the iOS app pointing to a broken heart icon as the dislike button design. That was nearly two years ago, so today’s push is a long time coming.
As seen in a screenshot shared by Insider Wire, it seems like when you tap the dislike button, it pulls up a “Reply feedback” sheet asking you to explain what’s wrong, with options like “Incorrect or misleading,” “AI generated,” and “Spam.”
So it’s less a straight downvote and more a content signal feeding into how replies get ranked, similar to how X has framed the feature internally.
The reaction online is mixed, which is about what you’d expect. Some users are calling it one of the better moves X has made for keeping reply sections clean. Others are not thrilled. One commenter said, “Please don’t make this any more Reddit than it has to be.”
Coincidentally (or not), just hours before Bier’s post, a new interview with YouTuber Marques Brownlee went up where he said the first thing he’d do as YouTube CEO would be to bring back the dislike count.
In a follow-up on X, he said it was “one glanceable quality indicator for the video you’re about to spend your time watching.”
Whether the button stays purely a ranking signal or eventually becomes visible to users, the way Reddit’s downvotes work is not clear yet.
Featured image credit: @aaronp613 / X
Dwayne Cubbins
2733 Posts
I cover fast-moving stories across apps, online platforms, and everyday tech — phones, wearables, consoles, and whatever else people are fighting with this week. Bugs, rollouts, scams, policy enforcement, and the occasional internet-culture rabbit hole are all fair game. My goal is simple — make confusing tech news readable. When I'm not working, I'm working out or chilling with my dog. Got a tip? You can find me on X @dcubbins.
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