A developer has come up with an extension for Chrome and Firefox that allows figures concerning the “dislike” button on YouTube to reappear. It’s been a couple of weeks since Google decided to globally apply a change that hid this data, in a bid to protect content creators from targeted attacks.

When Google decided to globally roll out the removal of “dislike” counts on all videos on the platform, many internet users were shocked. So a developer saw a demand and came up with a small extension, in alpha version, compatible with Chrome and Firefox, that has been made available to web users. This one allows for the “dislike” counter to reappear on Youtube, as if by magic. Note that its source code is also available online.

Google’s decision to remove these statistics was motivated by the desire to put a stop to the phenomenon of harassment and targeted attacks on the platform. Currently, it is still possible to indicate that you do not like a video, but the number of negative reactions any video accumulates is now hidden. Only the editor of the video has access to this data.

More information about the Return YouTube Dislike Stats extension here.

 - AFP Relaxnews