Since the end of 2021, YouTube no longer shows how many users have pressed the dislike button. With a little detour you can still find out how many people don't like a video.

By hiding dislikes, YouTube says it wants to protect smaller content creators in particular from "dislike attacks" and harassment . The YouTube dislike button hasn't been removed, so you can still rate videos with a thumbs down. However, you as a viewer can no longer see how many other people have also done this. Only the channel owner is informed about the number of dislikes. However, the number of likes remains publicly visible.

However, in many cases this also means that it is no longer possible to see at first glance whether a video is trustworthy or correct in terms of content. However, a little trick helps.

Browser extension makes YouTube dislikes visible again

Return YouTube Dislike is available as an extension for many browsers. Image: © Screenshot 2022

If you want to know how many people have pressed the YouTube Dislike button on a video, a free browser extension will help you. Return YouTube Dislike can be activated for your browser with just a few clicks. The extension is available for Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Opera and Brave. When installing in the Edge browser, you have to "Allow extensions from other stores", then the extension will also be active and you can see the number of "thumbs down" on a YouTube video again.

See YouTube dislikes – also on Apple devices?

Unfortunately, the extension is not available for Safari. But there is a workaround here too: Among the listed browsers that are supported by default, you will find a user script for other platforms. This works with the Tampermonkey add-on and thus in the desktop version of Safari. You can also use Return YouTube Dislike on iOS – but only if you have a jailbroken device. Then you can use an iOS tweak (at your own risk!) to display YouTube dislikes.

Only the channel owner knows the correct number of dislikes

If the browser extension is installed, you can see YouTube dislikes. Image: © Screenshot 2022

But how does the whole thing actually work if YouTube no longer provides this data since the update? The browser extension uses a combination of stored data that was available before the Dislike ad was switched off and extrapolated user behavior. Since the second variable is only an extrapolation, the number of dislikes displayed with the extension may not correspond 100 percent to the actual number of dislikes. However, the ratio of likes to dislikes should be about right. It's always enough to get a first impression of whether the video is well received or not.

In addition, the extrapolation becomes more and more accurate the more people use the browser extension and provide their data. Linus Tech Tips used his own videos to examine how exactly Return YouTube Dislikes already works. The result: The estimates of the expansion came out pretty well.

summary

• YouTube switched off displaying dislikes for all users at the end of 2021, only channel owners can see the number of dislikes.
• The Return YouTube Dislikes browser extension is available for free for most major browsers, installs with a few clicks and brings back the number of dislikes.
• There are workarounds for using the extension for Apple's Safari and jailbroken iOS devices.
• The displayed number of dislikes is based on old data and projections, so it is not 100% accurate, but it does reflect the ratio of likes to dislikes quite reliably.