YouTube has deleted thousands of dislikes on videos that were uploaded to the official White House YouTube channel by the Biden administration during its first day in office.
On some videos, YouTube’s purging of dislikes resulted in the dislike to like ratio temporarily dropping from 6.7 to 1.3 – a change that drastically alters the public perception of a video. When there are 6.7 dislikes for every like, a video seems wildly unpopular but when there are 1.3 dislikes for every like, it seems like the video is getting a mixed response from viewers.
All of the videos that were uploaded to The White House YouTube channel on January 20 had some dislikes removed and tens of thousands of total dislikes were scrubbed from these videos.
Here’s a breakdown of all the dislike removals with the larges amount of deleted dislikes at the top of the list:
“President Biden Signs Executive Orders and Other Presidential Actions” video
- At 90,938 views: 12,000 dislikes, 1,800 likes, 6.7 dislike to like ratio
- At 98,298 views: 2,500 dislikes, 2,000 likes, 1.3 dislike to like ratio
- Change: -9,500 dislikes, +200 likes, -5.4 dislike to like ratio
“01/20/21: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki” video
- At 84,000 views: 10,000 dislikes, 1,800 likes, 5.6 dislike to like ratio
- At 107,000 views: 3,100 dislikes, 2,500 likes, 1.2 dislike to like ratio
- Change: -6,900 dislikes, +700 likes, -4.4 dislike to like ratio
“President Biden Swears In Day One Presidential Appointees in a Virtual Ceremony” video
- At 78,000 views: 9,400 dislikes, 1,400 likes, 6.7 dislike to like ratio
- At 110,000 views: 3,800 dislikes, 2,200 likes, 1.7 dislike to like ratio
- Change: -5,600 dislikes, +800 likes, -5 dislike to like ratio
“The Inauguration of the 46th President of the United States” video
- At 130,689 views: 19,118 dislikes, 2,786 likes, 6.9 dislike to like ratio
- At 144,183 views: 13,601 dislikes, 3,189 likes, 4.3 dislike to like ratio
- Change: -5,517 dislikes, +403 likes, -2.6 dislike to like ratio
“President Biden Reviews the Readiness of Military Troops in a Pass In Review” video
- At 55,145 views: 8,500 dislikes, 736 likes, 11.5 dislike to like ratio
- At 69,319 views: 6,700 dislikes, 1,500 likes, 4.5 dislike to like ratio
- Change: -1,800 dislikes, +764 likes, -7.6 dislike to like ratio
“President Biden and Vice President Harris Participate in a Wreath Laying Ceremony” video
- At 17,476 views: 2,600 dislikes, 202 likes, 12.9 dislike to like ratio
- At 60,560 views: 2,200 dislikes, 1,000 likes, 2.2 dislike to like ratio
- Change: -400 dislikes, +798 likes, -10.7 dislike to like ratio
While it’s not known why YouTube did this, YouTube’s removal of over 29,000 dislikes from these videos will likely add to the perception that YouTube is treating both candidate and President Biden favorably, following the platform filling its search results for “joe biden ukraine” with fact-checks from the mainstream media less than two weeks before the 2020 US presidential election.
