The controversy surrounding Youtube's decision to disable the platform's Dislike button count has proven to be longer-lasting than the company likely hoped. YouTube users, as well as content creators, continue to share their frustration over the decision on social media, or via workarounds on YouTube itself. One of the main voices of that frustration on YouTube is Linus Sebastian of LinusTechTips, who recently managed to secure a meeting with YouTube's product manager leading the Dislike button changes.
Linus had previously mentioned that they secured the meeting with YouTube on social media. Fans then recently followed up with Linus about this meeting on Twitter, with Linus taking the time to respond. In a short initial response, Linus says that "nothing came of" the meeting he had with YouTube. In other words, the meeting with YouTube didn't lead to any material or meaningful action. Suffice to say, YouTube isn't changing its stance on the Dislike button changes.
Linus then made another tweet further explaining what happened with the YouTube meeting. "Yes I had the dislike counter meeting with YouTube," Linus confirms, filling in his followers to the context of the situation. He then confirms that, "Zero ducks were given about my concerns or the ones shared by our community." Compared to Linus' previous tweet, this post makes clear that Linus' thoughts on the subject weren't just ignored, but that Linus also feels entirely unheard by YouTube on the subject. It's safe to assume Linus was looking for YouTube to give at least one "duck" about his concerns and didn't get that.
To be fair to YouTube, the platform has already spent a significant amount of time and money coming to the decision that it made. That decision has already gone through, too. Linus may have excellent points regarding the usefulness of the Dislike button, or even how to improve it, but for the time being YouTube is going to express confidence in its decision even if it isn't confident behind the scenes. Anything less would likely only make the ongoing controversy worse.
With that in mind, it's possible, if unlikely, that YouTube did listen to Linus during the meeting they had. It's possible that YouTube is moving forward with evaluating some of Linus' ideas or something similar. YouTube simply wouldn't be able to say so until it's done the work internally. For those willing to give YouTube the benefit of the doubt on the subject, it's possible it's trying to solve the current YouTube controversy.
Of course, many content creators and YouTube users no longer see value in giving YouTube the benefit of the doubt, as that seems to be what's driving the current controversy. Few believe YouTube removed the Dislike count to protect small channels as opposed to reasons surrounding marketing and avoiding negative press. That's why the controversy is likely to continue, regardless of whether YouTube does make any changes to the Dislike button going forward.