• Facebook is testing a “downvote” button, bringing us closer to the “dislike” button that users have demanded.
  • The downvote button is similar to the signature functionality of Reddit.
  • Only a few users have the downvote button – at least, for now.

Facebook made a Reddit-like “downvote” button available for a small set of users Thursday, the company confirmed with Business Insider.

Facebook confirmed it was experimenting with the feature with 5% of Android users in the United States, as a way to help the site gauge whether certain comments on public posts were inappropriate.

Despite intitial reports from Twitter users that “downvote” button functioned similarly to a “dislike” button, Facebook tells Business Insider that downvoting a comment does not affect how it’s displayed on Facebook. The company said it has no plans to expand the test as of now.

"We are not testing a dislike button. 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," a Facebook spokesperson told Business Insider.

A select few users noticed Thursday a "downvote" option appeared underneath comments on posts, next to the "like" and "reply" buttons.

The new button was first spotted by Taylor Lorenz of the Daily Beast.

According to reports on Twitter, when users choose to "downvote" a comment, users can choose from a list of options explaining the decision. For example, you can mark the comment as "offsensive" or "misleading." In this way, it seems that Facebook is enlisting its users in its ongoing campaign to stamp out misinformation and propaganda on the site.

A "downvote" button would be is similar to what users find on Reddit, which allows users to upvote and downvote comments on a post as a marker of popularity.

In 2015, Facebook Design Chief Julie Zhuo said she had heard users complain about only having the ability to "like" a comment. CEO Mark Zuckerberg also said in 2015 the company was working on a "downvote" button at the time.

"One of the things we've heard people tell us over and over again is they want a 'Dislike' button, because not everything is likeable content," Zhuo said at Fusion's Real Fortune Fair in 2015. That same year, Facebook launched emoji "reactions," which it positioned as a friendlier alternative to the "dislike" button.