Twitter expands trial of its downvotes feature

Twitter is expanding its test feature that allows users to downvote replies to tweets they don’t want to see.

First rolled out in July, the social media app introduced the feature to understand which replies people find relevant in conversations. Downvotes aren’t visible to the tweet’s author or public.

The company also introduced upvotes that appear as likes. It’s unclear if upvoting will also be part of the expanded rollout.

“We learned a lot about the types of replies you don’t find relevant, and we’re expanding this test –– more of you on web and soon iOS and Android will have the option to use reply downvoting,” the organization said on its Twitter Support account (@TwitterSupport).

Some of you on iOS may see different options to up or down vote on replies. We're testing this to understand the types of replies you find relevant in a convo, so we can work on ways to show more of them.

Your downvotes aren’t public, while your upvotes will be shown as likes. pic.twitter.com/hrBfrKQdcY

— Support (@Support) July 21, 2021

This is just one of several tests Twitter is conducting. It’s currently examining a video reaction feature that will allow users to share their thoughts through a video over a typed message. It’s also testing a feature that will let users add content warnings to tweets and categories.

It’s unclear how Twitter will select users who can test the downvoting feature. But the fact that Android users will also be able to try this, as it was previously only open to iOS users, seems like a step in the right direction.