Twitter tests a button that lets users dislike replies

Twitter may be getting rid of Fleets, but it's giving another new feature a spin: a dislike button for replies.

Twitter revealed Wednesday it's testing a button that lets users downvote replies, which is now available for some on iOS. A graphic from Twitter showed a few different versions of the feature involving either a downvote arrow or a thumbs down. Twitter said that the dislikes won't be public, although the upvotes will be public and displayed as likes.

The idea, Twitter said, is "to understand the types of replies you find relevant in a convo, so we can work on ways to show more of them." It would be the latest change to how replies work on Twitter after the company previously gave users the ability to limit who can reply to their tweets.

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This also comes a week after Twitter announced that Fleets, tweets that disappear after 24 hours similar to Snapchat Stories, would be removed less than a year after the feature was introduced due to low usage. At the time, Twitter vice president of consumer product Ilya Brown said the company will continue to "explore more ways to address what holds people back from participating on Twitter."

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.