Facebook is trialling a dislike button

All eyes are on our puppeteer overlords over at Facebook HQ who since 2004 have had a tight grip on an ever-sprawling web of strings controlling the most intimate areas of our lives.

Now the company is testing a dislike button, an option that users have requested and joked about for years. Multiple screenshots have shown that some users can now use either “Like” or “Downvote” comments.

Oddly, the company seem to be quite coy about this new function when asked by The Daily Beast.

“We are not testing a dislike button,” a spokesperson said. “We are exploring a feature for people to give us feedback about comments on public page posts. This is running for a small set of people in the U.S. only.”

Well, they might not be keen on using the word “dislike” but it’s definitely the opposite of a “like”. While the company are splitting hairs over wording, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian replied to the news by highlighting its similarity to the name of the function that orders his site. He wrote: “Sincerest form of flattery! Wish I'd trademarked it and “upvote” when came up with it.”

Even though the function has been hotly anticipated, there’s still a chance this is another blow to human interaction. Imagine the spiral of negativity that will come with a “downvote”. Bad joke: downvote. Ugly selfie: downvote. Unappetising looking dinner: down vote. Too many baby photos: DOWNVOTE.

Oh well, Zuckerberg and his cohort already control our friendships, spending behaviour, politics, our worldview – just yesterday, a conversation surfaced from a meeting between UK politicians visiting US lawmakers debating the hot topic of fake news. MPs called Facebook a “surveillance operation“ that is in an “abusive relationship” with its users.