Not a fan of a tweet? Downvote it.

Not a fan of a tweet? Downvote it.

Twitter has been thinking about adding a downvote feature for a long time, but it finally appears to be serious about adding one.

Twitter announced Thursday that it will expand the availability of the downvote button globally, after testing the feature in a limited number of countries. After teasing something similar for years, Twitter launched the feature in July 2021.

There are several limitations to the downvote button. It is only available on replies, not on posts. Second, the downvote counts aren’t public, though Twitter says they’ll “help inform us of the content people want to see.”

https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1489355689554333710

The downvote button is coming first to the desktop version of Twitter, though Twitter promises it will appear on iOS and Android “soon.”

Twitter also shared some insights it has gathered while running the test. According to the company, most users used the downvoting feature to flag content they don’t want to see, and they mostly did it when they perceived the reply as offensive, not relevant, or both.

https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1489356006299684864

According to Twitter, the people who have tested the downvoting feature found that it improved the quality of conversations on Twitter. While this doesn’t necessarily mean Twitter will make the feature permanent, it does make it more likely, especially if it fares well in the global test.