Elon musk's X hints at new dislike feature for replies

Elon Musk’s social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), appears to be testing a new dislike button for replies, according to hints shared by X’s head of product, Nikita Bier.

Bier recently posted a screen recording suggesting that a thumbs-down icon may soon appear alongside the like and bookmark buttons on replies. 

Unlike traditional dislike features, the button would not display a public count. Instead, it would feed private signals into X’s algorithm to help users see less unwanted content.

When a user taps the button, a “Reply feedback” prompt appears, asking what’s wrong with the post. Options include: not interested, incorrect or misleading, AI-generated, spam, or report post. The feedback remains private.

Bier also addressed ongoing spam concerns on the platform, an issue Musk has previously pledged to tackle. 

He claimed that the financial incentive for spammers will “decline enormously over the next 30 days and soon be negative.”

The test also seems to have surfaced organically—shortly after Bier’s comments, a spam-like, AI-generated reply appeared under one of his posts, prompting him to demonstrate the feature in action.

While X does not currently have a dislike button, the idea is not new. Earlier versions and experiments have existed since Twitter days, including a downvote-style test in 2022 that was later discontinued. References to similar features have also been spotted in app code in recent years.

This time, however, the company appears more open about the idea. With X’s leadership actively discussing it, a version of the dislike button could eventually roll out more widely—focused on improving content quality rather than showing public negativity.