Before YouTube removed its dislike function, numerous videos went viral for the wrong reasons.
Previously, viewers had two options to react to a video if they wanted to express their thoughts on it.
Viewers could either use the like button or, if they felt strongly enough, opt to dislike a video.
A glance at the internet’s darker corners quickly reveals why the dislike feature might not have been the best idea.
In an age where trolls, including many AI accounts, lurk under every digital bridge, having a way to dislike something is asking for trouble.
Before YouTube eventually removed the dislike button—a decision that itself received tens of thousands of dislikes—several videos earned the dubious honor of being the most disliked on the platform.
So, what were these videos? Let’s examine the top five.
In fifth place, we have “Johny Johny Yes Papa,” a children’s music video that garnered 11,954,000 dislikes.
Interestingly, many of the videos on the list of the 42 most disliked videos are aimed at children.
Fourth place goes to the music video for Justin Bieber’s song “Baby,” which received 12,476,000 dislikes.
Third place belongs to the trailer for the Bollywood film “Sadak 2,” which saw 13,667,000 dislikes.
The trailer faced a flood of dislikes as a form of collective protest against nepotism in Bollywood following the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
Fans believed Rajput’s mental state had deteriorated due to being shut out of the industry, leading to his death by suicide.
In second place is another children’s music video, the “Baby Shark Dance,” with 14,972,000 dislikes.
The top spot goes to “YouTube Rewind 2018: Everyone Controls Rewind.”
This was the ninth installment in the YouTube Rewind Series and was posted on the platform’s official account.
It featured several prominent YouTubers as well as mainstream celebrities like Will Smith and Trevor Noah.
So, what led to the video’s poor reception?
It was criticized for featuring trends seen as outdated or unpopular and for not including rivalries such as KSI vs. Logan Paul and PewDiePie vs. T-Series.
By the time YouTube removed the dislike feature publicly, this video had amassed a staggering 20,358,000 dislikes.