Last year, Twitter introduced a new downvote button in the comments column and testing was limited to iOS device users. But now, testing is extended on a global scale including to Android users.
The new feature will now appear on the web version of Twitter and will soon roll out to the Android and iOS app versions. Unlike Reddit where users can freely see the number of upvotes and downvotes, the downvote feature on Twitter will work differently.
The number of downvotes won't be visible to users, but will help Twitter's algorithm better understand what types of replies are relevant to users and help make them more visible.
Twitter says that initial testing helps understand that the majority of its users click the down arrow in their replies, either because the reply was deemed offensive, or because they found it irrelevant, or both.
The microblogging service also says that downvoting is the most common way people flag content they don't want to see.
"People who have tested downvoting agree that it improves the quality of conversation on Twitter. We love to see how others think of it when it's available to more of you," Twitter said as quoted by us from Gizmochina.
The rollout of a wider test feature indicates that it could soon become a permanent feature offered on the platform to improve its algorithms to make the site more attractive to users.
However, people have also expressed concern that this feature might be used negatively to silence dissenting views or it might end up creating an echo chamber.