Facebook testing 'downvote' button on users' comments

Facebook is testing a feature that lets some users register a negative reaction to comments on the social network, but it's not the "dislike" button many users have long desired.

Some Facebook users reported on Twitter seeing a "downvote" button Thursday in the comment section of posts on public Facebook pages. When selected, the button offers reporting options like "Offensive," "Misleading" and "Off Topic."

Facebook confirmed late Thursday it's conducting a brief test of the comment moderation feature on a small set of English-speaking Android users.

"We are not testing a dislike button," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. "We are exploring a feature for people to give us feedback about comments on public page posts. This is running for a small set of people in the US only."

A "dislike" button has been on many users' wishlist since Facebook rolled out its "like" button in February 2009. The "like" feature allows users to express their approval for the messages, photos and other content their friends posted. However, it doesn't allow users to quickly voice negative opinions.

In 2016, the social networking giant gave users the option of choosing from a collection of emojis called "Reactions" to respond to posts with more nuanced emotions than "like." The new symbols represented expressions of love, laughter, surprise, sadness and anger.

Unlike the "like" button or "Reactions," the downvote button isn't about giving feedback to commenters but rather to Facebook. The intention is to give users a way to flag inappropriate, uncivil or misleading comments, Facebook said.

It doesn't affect a comment's ranking, and users won't even see how many people downvoted a comment.

Facebook said there are currently no plans to expand the feature.

:story: c|net