YouTube Shorts can no longer be disliked — and that changes how your feed works

YouTube Shorts has removed the thumbs-down button. Where the dislike used to sit, there is now nothing — and the thumbs-up has been replaced by a heart icon, representing what YouTube describes as a more meaningful way to express when a video truly connects with you. Alongside that change come two new features: a Clear Screen Mode that hides all interface elements with a single tap, and a 2x playback speed option that many Shorts viewers had been requesting for months.

It is easy to miss what disappears when a button does. The dislike signal was one of the clearest pieces of data a viewer could send a platform: not just “I scrolled past this,” but “I actively want less of this.” YouTube’s recommendation engine has historically balanced positive signals — likes, comments, shares — against negative ones — dislikes, not-interested taps — to calibrate the next video. That negative feedback is now limited to a hidden overflow menu option labeled Not Interested, which requires several additional taps to reach.

The redesign moves YouTube Shorts much closer to TikTok’s model. TikTok has never had a dislike button; its algorithm reads watch time, completion rates, and positive engagement to decide which videos to surface next. Data from TikTok’s extraordinary growth suggests the completion-rate model does surface content people genuinely want to watch. YouTube’s choice to adopt the same approach for Shorts signals it has reached the same conclusion — but a model built entirely around positive signals works best when the platform’s recommendations and the viewer’s preferences are perfectly aligned, and that alignment is not always guaranteed.

Whether the change improves the experience is genuinely uncertain. The dislike button was one of the only tools viewers had to actively train their feeds in real time without navigating menus. Removing it means the algorithm will now rely more heavily on indirect cues — skip rate, watch duration, replay behavior — to detect when a video is not landing. For creators, the change also removes a visible measure of audience rejection. Historical dislike data stays accessible inside YouTube Studio for now, but the counter stops updating by the end of June.

The two new additions are more straightforwardly useful. Clear Screen Mode strips the interface down to pure video — well suited to music performances, travel footage, or anything where the frame matters more than the controls around it. The 2x playback option, available for years on YouTube’s long-form player, finally lets Shorts viewers control their own pace: racing through a tutorial, sampling a creator’s content, or rewatching a short clip at speed.

The Shorts redesign has been rolling out globally on iOS and Android since June 25. Standard YouTube videos — the long-form content the platform was built on — are not affected and retain the dislike button. YouTube has not announced any plans to extend the change beyond Shorts.

Tags: apps, social media, algorithm, short-form-video, tiktok, youtube