Why YouTube Removed Dislike Counts & How to See Dislikes in 2026 (Complete Guide)
Do you remember when you could check how many dislikes a particular YouTube video got? All those days are now over. In November 2021, YouTube made the most controversial decision ever: all public dislike counts across all videos have been deleted. This move has impacted literally millions of content creators and billions of users around the globe.
If you are a person who likes to check the true engagement of a video before deciding to watch it, then you must have already checked various options for returning those lost dislikes. In this article, I will give answers to the main questions regarding this issue, including why YouTube decided to delete dislike counts, how it influenced the platform overall, and, finally, how you can still get an estimate of those values by using a special online service.
To tell the truth, after the deletion of the dislike option, I myself felt upset about that choice. For example, being a huge lover of tutorials, I always paid attention to the dislike counts of a certain video; it is quite obvious that any tutorial receiving, say, 10K likes and 5K dislikes should be questioned. After this change, I spent plenty of time watching
🔍 What Exactly Happened to YouTube Dislikes?
YouTube made a change on November ,10 ,2021. They decided to hide the number of dislikes on each video. Here is the thing YouTube did not get rid of the dislike feature together. Video owners can still see the number of dislikes they just have to use YouTube Studio to find out.
The reason YouTube did this is to help YouTube channels. These channels were getting hurt by something called “dislike attacks”. Dislike bomb.”
I know someone who had an experience with dislikes. My friend has a cooking channel on YouTube with around 5,000 subscribers. Somebody did something really mean to him. They got 500 dislikes on his video in just one day. My friend was really upset he even thought about deleting his account.. Then YouTube hid the number of dislikes and my friend felt much better. The stress was gone. YouTube and the YouTube channels are what we are talking about here and YouTube channels like my friends cooking channel are happy, about this change.
📊 How Did Dislike Bombing Work?
Before the change, dislike bombing was a serious problem. Here’s how it worked:
An organized group of individuals (Reddit, Discord, or Twitter members) worked together to give a particular video a large number of dislikes. There may be some valid criticisms, but there were instances when such dislikes were due to petty issues such as politics, personal vendettas toward the creator, or simply for amusement purposes.
Popular creators got more than 20 million dislikes, especially YouTube Rewind 2018 (most disliked video on YouTube), while smaller creators got more dislike relative to their views. A video with 1000 views and 500 dislikes is bad enough even though the video itself is good. Videos that get more dislikes are not recommended by YouTube’s algorithm.
Hence, it is better not to show dislike statistics.
🛠️ How Does Our YT Dislike Viewer Tool Work?
Since YouTube no longer provides public dislike data, we use an alternative method — the Return YouTube Dislike API. This is a community-driven database that collects data from millions of browser extension users.
Here’s how it works:
Upon viewing a video by anyone using the “Return YouTube Dislike” browser extension, the number of dislikes for that video (which is shown to the user only through the extension itself) is anonymously added to a public database. The tool accesses this database and displays the approximated number of dislikes.
Before making this tool available on our website, I tested it intensively. The accuracy rate for popular videos with more than 100,000 views ranges from 90% to 95%. In the case of unpopular or new videos, accuracy rates may be lower since not many people contribute data.
The most amazing feature is that all the data access takes place in your browser. No data at all about your searches is stored by us.
📝 Step-by-Step Guide: How to Use YT Dislike Viewer
Using our tool is incredibly simple. Just follow these steps:
- Go to any YouTube video you want to analyze
- Copy the video URL from your browser’s address bar
- Paste the URL into the input field on our YT Dislike Viewer tool
- Click the “Check Dislikes” button
- Wait a few seconds while our tool fetches the data
- View the estimated dislike count, like count, views, and rating ratio
That’s it! You can now see estimated dislikes on any YouTube video without installing any browser extensions or creating an account.
📈 Understanding Dislike to Like Ratio (What It Actually Means)
The dislike to like ratio is a powerful metric to understand video quality. Here’s what different ratios typically indicate:
- 95%+ likes, below 5% dislikes: High-quality, non-controversial content that most viewers appreciated. Tutorials, music videos, and entertainment content often fall in this range.
- 80-95% likes, 5-20% dislikes: Good content with minor disagreements. This is common for news analysis, political commentary, or product reviews where opinions vary.
- 50-80% likes, 20-50% dislikes: Controversial or poor quality content. Viewers are clearly divided. Proceed with caution.
- Below 50% likes, above 50% dislikes: Highly disliked content. This is rare for normal videos but common for scam content, clickbait, or extremely controversial topics.
Personally, I’ve found that the dislike ratio is especially useful for tutorial videos. If a coding tutorial has 80% likes and 20% dislikes, I know it might have some errors. If it has 95% likes, it’s probably worth my time.
💡 Real Examples from Experience
Example 1 – Product Review Scam: Last month, while trying to buy a laptop, I stumbled upon a product review video which got 50K views, 2K likes, but zero dislikes! However, using our tool, we could see that it actually got 8K dislikes. The video was marketing a scam website. I was saved.
Example 2 – Poor-Quality Tutorial Video: I was required to learn some new software at work and found a YouTube video for the same. Using our tool, I could see 65% likes and 35% dislikes on the video. Even then, I decided to watch the video. However, the video had bad-quality audio and bad instructions too. My 20 minutes went down the drain. From now on, I would check the dislike percentage first.
Example 3 – Identifying Clickbait Titles: There was a video with a clickbait title saying “Earning $10,000 within a week.” We could see through our tool that the video had 40% likes and 60% dislikes. Thus, I could save my time.
🔍 Why Can’t Creators See Public Dislikes Anymore?
Creators can still see dislike counts — just not publicly. In YouTube Studio, every creator can see exactly how many dislikes their videos received. This helps them understand what content isn’t working without exposing them to public shaming.
Creators can also see:
- Audience retention graphs (where viewers drop off)
- Traffic sources (how people found their video)
- Click-through rates (CTR)
- Average view duration
- Comments (positive and negative)
These metrics are actually more useful than dislike counts for improving content. A high dislike count tells you people didn’t like something, but retention graphs tell you exactly where they stopped watching.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is this dislike viewer 100% accurate?
A: No one tool can be 100% accurate because YouTube removed official dislike data. Our estimates are 90-95% accurate for popular videos with over 100,000 views. For newer videos, accuracy may be lower.
Q: Why can’t I see dislikes on very new videos?
A: New videos may not have enough community data yet. The Return YouTube Dislike API relies on users with browser extensions. If the video was just uploaded, wait a few days and try again.
Q: Is this tool really free?
A: Yes! yt dislike viewer tool is 100% free with no hidden charges, no signup, and no limits. Use it as many times as you need.
Q: Will YouTube bring back public dislikes?
A: As of 2026, YouTube has shown no indication of bringing back public dislike counts. Some reports suggest YouTube is experimenting with a downvote button that only creators can see, but nothing has been confirmed.
Q: Can creators still see their dislikes?
A: Yes! Every creator can see exact dislike counts in YouTube Studio under the “Content” tab for each video.
Q: Is my privacy protected when using this tool?
A: Absolutely. All data fetching happens in your browser. We don’t store your search history, IP address, or any personal information.
Q: Why did YouTube remove dislikes in the first place?
A: YouTube stated they removed public dislikes to protect small creators from “dislike bombing” attacks and to reduce harassment.
⚡ Why Use LUZEEB TOOLS YT Dislike Viewer?
- ✅ 100% Free Forever — No hidden costs, no signup, no premium tiers
- ✅ No Browser Extension Required — Works instantly in any browser
- ✅ Privacy Focused — We don’t store any of your data
- ✅ Works on All Devices — Desktop, mobile, tablet, any browser
- ✅ Accurate Estimates — 90-95% accuracy for popular videos
- ✅ Mobile Responsive — Use yt dislike viewer on your phone or tablet easily
💡 Final Tips for Using Dislike Viewers
The dislike viewer is a helpful tool, but don’t rely on it 100%. Here are my final tips:
- Use it as a guideline, not absolute truth. Dislike ratios can be manipulated by coordinated attacks or brigading.
- Read the comments section as well. Comments often tell you more than numbers about video quality.
- Check the like-to-view ratio. A video with 100K views but only 500 likes probably isn’t very good regardless of dislikes.
- Be patient with new videos. Give them a few days to accumulate enough data for accurate estimates.
- Combine multiple signals. Don’t decide based on dislikes alone — watch a few minutes yourself to form your own opinion.
I have been saving lots of my time by watching only high-quality videos since I have begun using dislike viewers. If you are a viewer wanting to save your time or a researcher interested in understanding YouTube viewership, then you can use our YT Dislike Viewer.
Try it above — paste any YouTube video link and see the estimated dislike count instantly.
Last updated: May 2026 | Data source: Return YouTube Dislike API | 90-95% accuracy for popular videos
