Facebook Is Working on a ‘Dislike' Button, Zuckerberg Says

Looks like the Facebook "Dislike" button might finally happen. The company's CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg said as much during a Q&A Tuesday.

"I think people have asked about the dislike button for many years. Today is a special day because today is the day I can say we’re working on it and shipping it," Zuckerberg said, according to Business Insider.

He said the tool wouldn't be for expressing disdain for posts, but it would be used for showing empathy for posts that seem inappropriate to "Like," such as news of natural disasters or loved ones dying.

"Not every moment is a good moment," he said, according to Today.com. He did not give a release date for the new button.

Zuckerberg said that the social network didn't immediately design the button because it didn't want to turn into something like Reddit, with a system of upvoting and downvoting. 

"That isn’t what we’re here to build in the world," Zuckerberg said. He added that the company realized Facebook users didn't necessarily want to downvote each other, they just wanted to have another option to "Liking," according to Business Insider.

Last December, during another Q&A interview at Facebook headquarters, Zuckerberg said that while the social network was mulling over a "dislike" button for users, he thought then that it might not happen.

"Some people have asked for a Dislike button because they want to be able to say 'That thing isn’t good.' And that’s not something that we think is good for the world. So we’re not going to build that," he said in answer to a question why the "dislike" button hasn't emerged.

"I don’t think there needs to be a voting mechanism about whether posts are good or bad," he continued. "I don’t think that’s socially very valuable or good for the community to help people share the important moments in their lives."

At Tuesday's meeting, Zuckerberg also talked about his favorite emoji or sticker on Facebook: the cactus.

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