Would removing the 'like' button actually do Twitter any good?

Twitter users have begged for an edit button, and for updated terms of service to combat hate speech. Instead, the company is considering a significantly less popular option.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said he's not a fan of the "like" button and is looking at getting rid of it "soon," The Telegraph reported Sunday. Twitter's own account soon weighed in and tweeted that the company is "rethinking everything about the service to ensure we are incentivizing healthy conversation." This, they say, "includes the like button." On his personal account, Twitter's vice president of global communications, Brandon Borrman, disputed the idea that this change would happen "soon," but he did admit that "we're considering it."

So would removing the "like" button actually do any good and help improve debates, as is apparently the goal? "Right now we have a big 'like' button with a heart on it and we're incentivizing people to want it to go up," Dorsey told WIRED last month. "Is that the right thing? Versus contributing to the public conversation or a healthy conversation?" Dorsey has also expressed concern that Twitter could create echo chambers, so perhaps the idea is that removing the "like" incentive will combat that.

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But not everyone is convinced, with some feeling that removing the ability to quickly express appreciation for something would simply make the platform's troll problem a lot worse. "The most common interaction here is the 'like,' and it's friendly and affirming," Twitter user Max Kennerly writes. "In new Twitter, the most common interaction will be a hostile reply. Who the hell wants that?"