- *Tiktok says the new feature will help identify comments that are "irrelevant or inappropriate."
By Chinua Albert Okafor @TheRoboRai
Tiktok just rolled out a new feature for comments that allows users to downvote or dislike other comments. Under individual comments under videos, the button will appear in the form of a thumbs-down icon. According to TikTok, the feature, first introduced as a test in April, is now available globally.
You can undo your downvote by clicking the button again, and only you will be able to see that you have disliked or downvoted a comment which is kind of redundant because if no other users can see the number of dislikes on a comment it defeats the purpose of having a like to dislike ratio to gauge user interaction with specific comments but it seems to be just a Back-End moderation tool for TikTok currently.
Dislike Button On TikTok But Number Of Dislikes Wont Be Visible, Image: TikTok
However, TikTok is not clear about how downvotes will be used. The TikTok platform says downvoting comments is "a new way to get feedback from its community" and will help identify comments that are "irrelevant or inappropriate." Users will still have the option of reporting comments for violating TikTok rules, in addition to downvoting comments.
Reddit and other platforms have long allowed users to downvote content, but this is a way for community members to communicate disagreement. A feature similar to TikTok's new feature was recently experimented with by Twitter as a way to measure what users find relevant and surface them accordingly.