YouTube Dislike Count Comes Back Through A Browser Extension

YouTube made the controversial decision to hide the dislike count from all videos a while back. This change would hide the disliked count from viewers, but channel owners or creators could still see it. However, a new browser extension brings back the dislike count on YouTube videos for everyone (for now).

The “Return YouTube Dislike” is an open-source browser extension that works on Chrome (and all Chromium-based browsers), Firefox, and iOS. Likewise, it restores the dislike count on all videos for everyone.

The extension has gained popularity as it has over 200,000 users from the Chrome Web Store alone. Users can view the exact like and dislike count by hovering over the buttons using the tool.

The extension extracts its data from YouTube’s API, which can fetch the dislike count when required for analytics. However, using the API has its limitations; the extension’s service downloads all the available data and stores it on a server. This data doesn’t update regularly, and the dislike count might not update for 2-3 days.

As mentioned on the extension’s GitHub page, YouTube will remove the “dislike field” from its API on December 13. Post that date, the dislike count won’t be accessed via the official YouTube API. However, the developers claim that they “save all the data” on their database to access it later when YouTube removes the option.

You can visit the extension’s website, its GitHub repository, or search for it on your browser’s extension store to download it. Upon installation, it will display the dislike count on all YouTube videos.