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YouTube's actions temporarily reduced the dislike-to-like ratio by more than 6x on some videos.

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...