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Tens of Thousands of YouTube Users Slam Omission of Dislike Button

The YouTube app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. (Reuters)
The YouTube app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. (Reuters)
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Tens of Thousands of YouTube Users Slam Omission of Dislike Button

The YouTube app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. (Reuters)
The YouTube app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. (Reuters)

Tens of thousands of YouTube users are criticizing its decision to hide how many times a video has been disliked, according to the German news agency.

The Google-owned platform announced, a few days ago, it will no longer show how many "dislike" ratings a video has received in an effort to create an "inclusive and respectful environment."

However, users will still be able to click on the dislike button for any video, YouTube said. It will no longer impact other users' discretion to watch a video, as the dislike counter will be visible only to the creators of the video.

Since the announcement on Wednesday, tens of thousands of users of the web's largest video platform are criticizing the move. "This isn't about protecting creators. This is about protecting corporations and media companies," one user commented on a YouTube video announcing the changes. The comment received 14,000 likes and an unknown number of dislikes.

YouTube's video announcing plans to hide dislike counts received 33,000 thumbs down (dislikes), four times more than the number of thumbs up (likes).

While YouTube's public comments section remains intact, removing a quick mean to see the public verdict on a video will make it more difficult to spot bad or disputed content, users have argued. Following the announcement, YouTube dismissed user complaints that the move amounts to censorship and protecting big brands and advertisers.

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Technology

EU: Google Should Allow Third-party Search Engines Access to Data

FILE PHOTO: Google's logo during the CERAWeek energy conference 2026 in Houston, Texas, US, March 24, 2026. REUTERS/Danielle Villasana/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Google's logo during the CERAWeek energy conference 2026 in Houston, Texas, US, March 24, 2026. REUTERS/Danielle Villasana/File Photo
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EU: Google Should Allow Third-party Search Engines Access to Data

FILE PHOTO: Google's logo during the CERAWeek energy conference 2026 in Houston, Texas, US, March 24, 2026. REUTERS/Danielle Villasana/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Google's logo during the CERAWeek energy conference 2026 in Houston, Texas, US, March 24, 2026. REUTERS/Danielle Villasana/File Photo

The European Commission has sent preliminary findings to Google on proposed measures to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act, which would allow third-party search engines to access Google search data, including ⁠that of artificial ⁠intelligence chatbots with search functionalities, the commission said on Thursday.

Interested parties have until May ⁠1 to submit their views on the proposed measures, with a final decision to be made in July.

Google, the world's most popular search engine, was charged in March 2025 with ⁠breaching ⁠the Digital Markets Act. It has made its own proposals to mollify rivals and EU regulators, but rivals have complained the measures were insufficient.

Technology

Samsung Asks Court to Block Illegal Strike Activities by Unions

A South Korean national flag (L) and a Samsung flag (R) flutter outside the company's Seocho building in Seoul on April 7, 2026. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)
A South Korean national flag (L) and a Samsung flag (R) flutter outside the company's Seocho building in Seoul on April 7, 2026. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)
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Samsung Asks Court to Block Illegal Strike Activities by Unions

A South Korean national flag (L) and a Samsung flag (R) flutter outside the company's Seocho building in Seoul on April 7, 2026. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)
A South Korean national flag (L) and a Samsung flag (R) flutter outside the company's Seocho building in Seoul on April 7, 2026. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)

Samsung Electronics asked a court on Thursday to block its South Korean labour unions engaging in illegal activities during a planned strike, a spokesperson said, as a wage dispute threatens to disrupt operations at the world's top memory chipmaker.

Samsung did not elaborate on details of its legal action. Unions labelled it a "declaration of war," accusing the company of infringing on its right to strike, which ⁠is protected under the ⁠law.

Unionized workers at Samsung last month voted to authorize strike plans and threatened to walk out for 18 days from May 21, should they fail to agree on a wage deal with management.

The unions also plan to ⁠hold a major rally on April 23, ramping up pressure on Samsung during wage negotiations.

Samsung workers, frustrated by a pay gap with crosstown rival SK Hynix, are calling on Samsung to remove its performance pay cap and link bonuses to operating profit.

The company estimated it made an operating profit of 57.2 trillion won ($38.85 billion) for the January to March period, more than an eightfold ⁠jump ⁠from 6.69 trillion won a year earlier.

Samsung's union leader told Reuters that a potential strike could affect about half the output at Samsung's giant semiconductor complex in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, the capital.

A strike at the world's largest manufacturer of memory chips could worsen bottlenecks in global supply of semiconductors, stemming from robust demand for artificial intelligence data center operations that has curbed supply to industries from cars and computers to smartphones.

Technology

AI Demand Drives Chipmaker TSMC's Net Profit to Fresh Record

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is displayed outside of TSMC Museum of Innovation in Hsinchu, Taiwan April 9, 2026. REUTERS/Ann Wang/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is displayed outside of TSMC Museum of Innovation in Hsinchu, Taiwan April 9, 2026. REUTERS/Ann Wang/File Photo
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AI Demand Drives Chipmaker TSMC's Net Profit to Fresh Record

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is displayed outside of TSMC Museum of Innovation in Hsinchu, Taiwan April 9, 2026. REUTERS/Ann Wang/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is displayed outside of TSMC Museum of Innovation in Hsinchu, Taiwan April 9, 2026. REUTERS/Ann Wang/File Photo

Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC said Thursday that net profit for January-March leaped to a fresh quarterly record, boosted by the race to develop artificial intelligence technology.

Massive global demand for AI hardware means business is booming for TSMC, the world's biggest contract maker of microchips used in everything from Apple phones to Nvidia's AI processors.

TSMC said its net profit for the first quarter of 2026 rose a whopping 58.3 percent from a year ago to NT$572.5 billion ($18 billion).

The figure trounced estimates of NT$540.20 billion in a Bloomberg survey of analysts.
Governments and tech giants are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into building new data centers that can run and train AI tools such as chatbots, image generators and agents that can execute tasks.

Last month, Jensen Huang, head of top US chip designer Nvidia, said the entire tech world feels they could develop their AI and grow revenue "if they could just get more capacity".

Ahead of the earnings announcement, Ian Lyall at Proactive Investors said it appeared TSMC is "so deeply embedded in the AI supply chain that macro headwinds are struggling to leave a mark".

"Advanced-node chip production, the bleeding-edge manufacturing that only TSMC can reliably deliver at scale, is running at capacity," he noted.

TSMC is "supplying chips for artificial intelligence accelerators, next-generation smartphones, and the data center build-out that is consuming capital at a pace that has surprised even its most bullish observers", Lyall said.

A weaker Taiwanese dollar had also boosted TSMC's revenues from overseas sales, AFP reported.

On Thursday, TSMC said net revenue for the first quarter came in at NT$1.13 trillion, up 35.1 percent year-on-year.

A note from UBS analysts had predicted strong quarterly results for TSMC but warned that consumer demand was weakening as a result of higher prices caused by a global memory chip shortage fueled by the AI boom.

"Cloud AI demand continues to strengthen, but we think supply constraints will limit meaningful upside for TSMC this year," the UBS team said.

"Middle East tensions add a layer of macro uncertainty, but AI spend should stay insulated, barring a protracted conflict."

The UBS analysts predicted "limited disruption from tight helium supply on TSMC's production".

Helium gas is a key material in the chip supply chain, and Qatar -- one of the countries affected by the war in the Middle East -- is one of its few large-scale producers.

TSMC said Thursday it does not expect the war to impact its supply of chipmaking materials such as helium and hydrogen in the near term.