Facebook Downvote Rolling Out To Users Outside The US, But It's Not What You Think

Back in February, some users in the U.S. found that Facebook was testing a downvote feature for comments that wasn't exactly what most people hoped for. Only a small portion of Facebook users ever saw that downvote option and now it appears that a similar downvote test is rolling out for more users (primarily in Australia and New Zealand). Interestingly, it appears that in this new test the downvote has changed a bit.

When downvote testing started in the U.S., that was an actual representative icon available alongside the Like and Reply icons. In the tests being conducted now, that "Downvote" icon has been replaced with arrows pointing up and down allowing users to upvote or downvote comments. The Like and Reply buttons are still there along with the reaction icons. The tweet embedded below shows that the downvote capability looks like now.

Does Facebook now have some kind of upvote/downvote system? Never seen this before 🤨 pic.twitter.com/ysscCMq2Mi

— ashslay (@ashsparkle) April 29, 2018

These still aren’t the like and dislike buttons that many hoped Facebook would roll out. Unlike Reddit where a downvote pushes content further down the page, Facebook's feature will only allow posts people don’t like to collect downvotes. At least it's a way to dislike posts without having to simply use the reaction icons.

One tweet does show a disclaimer along with the upvote and downvote arrows that notes the downvote reaction is anonymous. This means you can downvote a friend's comments without having to feel like someone will be upset with you. What Facebook wants is for the downvote to be used on comments that were meant to be disrespectful and may have bad intentions.

Hmmmm. Not sure I like the Upvote and Downvote feature of Facebook. Time will tell I guess. pic.twitter.com/hxvjW7HaTX

— BEN SLATER 🌀 (@iambenslater) April 29, 2018

Facebook has been facing major user backlash over the last several months first for not doing enough to combat fake news, and then for not doing enough to protect the data it collects on users in the Cambridge Analytica row. Facebook is also working to roll out an unsend feature in Messenger that is available for everyone, not just executives.