Pixabay
Audio By Carbonatix
Twitter is reportedly doing away with the ‘like’ feature and users are as baffled as they are angry. A recent report by The Telegraph claims that last week, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey admitted at a Twitter event that he hated the heart-shaped button and that it would be getting rid of it “soon”. The move is being implemented in an effort to “improve the quality of debate.”
There have been conflicting reports as to to accuracy of The Telegraph’s report. BuzzFeed News’ Katie Notopoulos tweeted, “Last week Twitter met with reporters (including BuzzFeed) to show off several potential new features, this was not mentioned.” Vanity Fair contributor Maya Kosoff also tweeted, “this story is based on one quote and PR appears to be mostly denying it. it is not worth getting fired up over i promise.”
In response to the report, Twitter posted a cryptic response that doesn’t clear up much.
https://twitter.com/TwitterComms/status/1056913093471670273
Regardless of the accuracy of the report, it gave Twitter users a place to congregate and voice their disapproval of the proposal. Many have accused Twitter of not doing enough to ban Nazis or crack down on hate speech, and view axing the like button as not only counter-productive, but besides-the-point.
https://twitter.com/MaxKennerly/status/1056884241764700166
I literally cannot express how bad this idea is.
The like button lets me acknowledge and send love to the amazing stuff people share. It lets me affirm people I care about quickly and easily. IT'S A LITTLE HEART!
It's the main thing I like – pun fully intended – about Twitter. https://t.co/RIJusaFu9Y
— OrcishLibrarian (@BibliovoreOrc) October 29, 2018
https://twitter.com/geekylonglegs/status/1056908929890955267
https://twitter.com/WindJackal18/status/1056874959312707585
https://twitter.com/charles_kinbote/status/1056884366696177664
Because, clearly, a heart button is the root of all that ails us.
— John Francis Nooney 🤷🏼♂️🤦🏼♂️💁🏼♂️🤬🏳️🌈 (@noonski) October 29, 2018
Sounds like a socialist ploy to make losers who don’t get likes on Twitter feel better about themselves. That’s like doing away with letter jackets.
— Three Year Letterman (@3YearLetterman) October 29, 2018
https://twitter.com/catjungleredux/status/1056894491372802048
"when we report someone for death or rape threats or hate speech, please remove them."
twitter: "remove the like button? it's done."
"no, just the shitty people–"
twitter: "your account has been suspended for violating the terms of service."
— anne t donahue (@annetdonahue) October 29, 2018
twitter: you can fave tweets!
us: cool that's helpful
twitter: faves are likes now!
us: sounds weird but ok
twitter: some likes show up on everyone's timeline!
us: wait no that's bad
twitter: understood! likes are gone!
us: what
twitter: we love quality debate!— i n n e s (@innesmck) October 29, 2018
[h/t Complex]