YouTube

‘Return YouTube Dislikes’ extension temporarily breaks following update, here’s how to restore it

Ben Schoon | Jan 10 2022 - 7:36 am PT

To the dismay and anger of many, Google removed the dislike counter from YouTube in November. However, some ambitious developers took on the project of enabling users to bring back YouTube dislikes, but the “Return YouTube Dislikes” extension has been briefly disabled for many following a recent update that requires new permissions. Here’s what you need to know.

“Return YouTube Dislikes” debuted quickly after Google pulled the plug on the official visible counts, and it has kept operating following Google’s shutdown of all public data on dislike counts. The project works as an extension for your browser, with Google Chrome being the most popular method of using it.

A recent update to the Return YouTube Dislikes extension disabled the tool for many as new permissions were required for the extension to work. This led to some confusion as a pop-up notified users that the extension needed permission to “read and change” the user’s data.

The developers confirmed on the project’s official Discord channel that this change is only used to access data on a single URL – returnyoutubedislike.com/debug. This is required to allow the extension’s new debug helper tool to function. A previous version of the extension, v2.1.0.0, asked for “localhost permission,” but as an error of the developers. That permission request has since been removed in v2.1.0.2.

…just a clarification – the permissions were added to access ONLY https://returnyoutubedislike.com/debug.
Version 2.1.0.0 was asking for localhost permissions – and that was an error, it was immediately removed in 2.1.0.2
Return YouTube Dislikes developers on Discord

If you use Return YouTube Dislikes and have seen it break since the new permission was requested, you can easily turn it back on. Simply head to Chrome Settings > Extensions and look for “Return YouTube Dislikes.” When you find it, ensure it is turned on.