If you’re an Instagram user, you may have noticed a new feature on the app last week, next to all those comments on your favorite celebrity’s post – a downward pointing arrow. In an effort to optimize creator comment sections and minimize negative and irrelevant content, Meta has chosen a select group of users to test out a new downvote button feature.
About the button
Like downvotes on Reddit, the Instagram dislike count will not be visible to users, but will be logged by the app itself, which may use the data to sort comments by relevancy. As Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, recently explained:
“Some of you may have seen that we’re testing a new button next to comments on Instagram – this gives people a private way to signal that they don’t feel good about that particular comment. I want to be clear: this is a test, there is no dislike count, nor will anyone know if you tap the button. Eventually, we may integrate this signal into comments ranking to move disliked comments lower down. Our hope is that this might help make comments more friendly on Instagram.”
Other social media platforms, like Reddit and YouTube, have had downvote buttons for years. Even Facebook, Meta’s largest platform, tested a downvote option in the past, but ultimately chose to sunset the feature.
Instagram’s new downvote button as seen by select users
Making Instagram friendly again
While unwanted and irrelevant comments have always been prevalent on Instagram and the idea of downvoting them is a welcome one, the introduction of the downvote raises some concerns. Meta claims it is testing whether downvoting provides an effective way to promote relevant content and address the problem of negative comments, but the extent to which users might exploit the feature is yet to be determined. It’s possible that they may attempt to make coordinated efforts to silence political opposition and minority voices, or simply to troll disliked profiles by downvoting comments they don’t like or agree with. As Mosseri further commented on the feature:
“It might work, it might not, but we want to do what we can to improve comments for creators particularly.”
For now, the downvote button is only being tested with a small number of users, and a decision has not yet been made as to whether it will be introduced across the platform.