Last month, Facebook admitted that its platform is bad for democracy.
Now comes word of a project that may push people into more of an information cocoon.
Facebook is testing a button with selected users that allows them to “downvote” posts they don’t like, according to the Daily Beast.
Tech reporter Taylor Lorenz said the “downvote” option first appeared Thursday in the comments sections of certain Facebook groups as well as on old Facebook memories content.
She shared screenshots on Twitter ― but not on Facebook, for some reason.
A “dislike” button has been the holy grail of Facebook for years. Currently, the closest option users have for expressing their displeasure on posts is to hover over the “like” button and select the “sad” or “angry” emoji-inspired faces.
However, Lorenz said this newer button might allow content that’s offensive or inflammatory to be pushed to the bottom of a comment feed.
In other words, Facebook is trying to invent Reddit, something Alexis Ohanian, that website’s founder and CEO, quickly noted on Twitter:
HuffPost reached out to Facebook’s press office, which did not immediately respond.
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