Facebook is finally getting a dislike button

Screen showing a &#039;thumbs down&#039; symbol.

(Image credit: iStock)

published 15 September 2015

We've all been there: You're casually scrolling through your Facebook feed, trying unsuccessfully to dodge the onslaught of autoplay videos and humble brags, when you come upon an acquaintance's sentimental status about their cat dying. What do you do? You don't know this person well enough to comment something encouraging! You've never met the cat! You settle, begrudgingly, on "liking" the sad update to show support and move on.

Well, now there's a button to avoid all of that uncomfortable internet emotion. Or, at least, there will be soon.

After years of fielding user requests for a "dislike" button, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that the social network is finally developing one, Business Insider reports. Zuckerberg also explained that while the company didn't initially design the website with a dislike button to avoid creating a Reddit-like upvote and downvote system, he's since realized that users don't want to tear each other down. "What they really want is the ability to express empathy," he said. "Not every moment is a good moment."