Making users’ experience more flexible is a priority, and recent reports suggest that Elon Musk’s X platform is working on a downvoting one.
Although the company has not issued an official statement, it appears this new feature may be a lot like a ‘dislike’ button and not just an icon that mirrors Reddit, as has been suggested. The app is called X iOS.
The codes identified in the app (how this information was obtained is still unclear) suggest the existence of this button, which is a broken heart icon that seems to be located next to the platform’s heart-shaped “like” button. Also, literal references to ‘downvote’ have been noted, as mentioned above.
It is necessary to mention that the company had already tried the upvoting and downvoting buttons for all the posts in 2021 before Musk’s acquisition. However, based on the current advancements, X plans to make downvotes exclusive to only replies rather than posts.
This move aligns with the recently announced confirmation of a new setting, where Musk announced that all likes will be hidden by default for X users to improve the quality of the content and interactions.
Some of these findings have been reverse-engineered by MnM engineer Aaron Perris on Twitter, identifiable by his X ID @aaronp613. He has found extra image files within the iOS app that can be used to illustrate that Apple likely planned on turning downvote as a feature into a broken heart icon, in addition to other significant references to the feature.
The possible introduction of a downvote button for X could have some consequences because this utility’s main goal is to help individuals express their disapproval of replies compared to the current options offered. This might enhance the matching rates and quality of the content being shown.
With Musk at the helm of X and continued development, people are looking forward to this new feature’s coming update and integration to completely change the micro-blogging landscape.
