X, formerly known as Twitter, is currently testing the addition of a negative button for posts. This feature will allow users to rate posts based on their relevance or truthfulness. Prior to Elon Musk acquiring the platform, Twitter had already tested both negative and positive buttons in 2021 as a way to evaluate tweets similar to Reddit’s system.
The return of this feature by X was revealed after references to negative votes were found in the code of the latest iOS application update. The company is considering implementing the downvote button to help improve the ranking of posts on the social network. According to engineer and analyst Aaron Perris, the downvote button is shaped like an inverted yellow arrow and is located next to the ‘Like’ heart icon on posts.
Engineer Jay Baxter and Elon Musk himself have also discussed this new feature. Baxter suggested that downvotes could support the commented notes feature as an additional method of evaluating posts. However, he emphasized the importance of being judicious when using the negative buttons to prevent creating a hive mind like Reddit.
X aims to avoid creating an environment similar to Reddit by using private ratings from users and other options such as comments. The addition of the downvote button is part of the platform’s effort to provide users with more tools to evaluate and interact with posts on the social network.