Cara Delevingne has spoken out against the growing possibility of a Facebook ‘Dislike’ button – stating that it could introduce a “whole new wave” of cyberbullying.

The development, which was discussed back in September by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, was hailed as a whole new way for users to “express empathy” in difficult situations. However, after a bitter backlash, the feature was put on the backburner, and was instead replaced with a series of new ‘reactions’ buttons – including ‘sad’, ‘angry’ and ‘wow’. 

Whether the ‘Dislike’ button will be introduced later down the line is still up for debate, though Delevingne is not convinced. “If you can go around disliking someone’s pictures, that is going to set off a whole new wave of bullying,” the model revealed to The Sunday Times. “These companies are making so much money, they just want the new thing. If it’s something that is going to cause people harm, I really think we should steer against that... ‘Like’ away – but if you have a bad thought about someone, keep it to yourself.”

Delevingne, who has over 3.6 million Facebook followers, also spoke about her staggering social reach – which can reportedly see her earn up to £200,000 per Instagram post. “The youth of today especially the kids growing up now – have so much power to change things that are wrong with our society,” she shared. “It's important that they have somebody to look up to, whether it's me or someone else.”

It’s true to say that the liberating anonymity of social media has seen a sharp rise in online abusing and trolling, and a ‘Dislike’ button would do nothing to stifle that negativity. It’s not like we need any more encouragement in that area. Besides, if you really need a button to help “express” your empathy, then you probably have much bigger issues to deal with.