TikTok Testing 'Dislike' Button for Comments

TikTok is testing a "dislike" button that will let users flag comments they believe to be "irrelevant or inappropriate." The feature was designed to help members "stay in control of their interactions," the company said in a blog post on Wednesday.

The button will be a private feature: Only the person who registered a dislike will see it. A Twitter screenshot shared by Engadget showed a "thumbs down" icon next to messages, with no counter indicating how many times a comment had been disliked.

TikTok added that it would determine whether to roll the feature out widely "in the coming weeks." 

"This community feedback will add to the range of factors we already use to help keep the comment section consistently relevant and a place for genuine engagement," according to the blog post.
The social media company is also experimenting with reminders that direct creators with a high percentage of negative comments to comment-filtering and bulk block-and-delete features. 

TikTok said last year it improved filtering of content that violates its community standards -- including removing more clips that promoted bullying, violent extremism and dangerous acts before they're viewed by anyone.

"We will continue to remove comments that violate our community guidelines, and creators can continue to report comments or accounts individually or in bulk for us to review," the post says.

TikTok creators can already decide who to let comment on their clips -- everyone, no one or only friends whom they follow back. They can also filter comments for manual review or block comments that include selected keywords.   

According to Bytedance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, the platform has 1 billion monthly active users.