TikTok is rolling out a feature that allows users to downvote comments, the company announced today.
The button will appear next to likes on individual comments under videos in the form of a thumbs-down icon that users can click. The feature, first announced as a test back in April, will now be available to users globally, according to TikTok. Users can undo their downvote by clicking the button again, and only the person doing the downvoting will be able to see that they’ve done so.
Image: TikTok
Unlike the amount of likes a comment receives, the number of downvotes isn’t visible publicly, suggesting downvotes will serve more as a back-end moderation tool, though TikTok isn’t clear about how it will use downvotes. TikTok says downvoting comments is “a new way to hear feedback directly from [its] community” and will allow the platform to better identify comments that are “irrelevant or inappropriate.” In addition to downvoting comments, users will still have the option to report comments for violating TikTok rules.
Other platforms like Reddit have long had the option to downvote content, but it’s a public way for community members to signal disagreement and gauge response. More recently, Twitter has experimented with something similar to TikTok’s new feature as a way for the platform to measure what users find relevant and then adjust which replies are surfaced.