YouTube is rolling out a number of changes to Shorts, including a new way for users to shorten the length of short-form videos.
It is a platform owned by Google announced Thursday’s Shorts now comes with a setting that allows users to double the playback speed. The goal of making the already short experience even shorter is to allow users to “absorb information faster or find the part you love faster,” the platform said.
In a clear bid for a more positive web, YouTube has also removed Shorts’ dislike button. Instead of simply disliking a video, users will have to rely on “Not interested” and “Do not recommend this channel” to discourage certain types of content.
Similarly, if users like a video, instead of clicking the thumbs up button, they will now have access to the heart emoji.
Finally, YouTube is also introducing a new “Clear Screen Mode” designed to temporarily hide “all icons and text from your playback view,” giving users a clear view of their content regardless of floating distractions.
All of these changes were made in the service of creating a “more intuitive Shorts experience,” the company said. It is not clear exactly when the updates will go into effect. The company said the features will roll out over time, but did not provide specific dates.
TechCrunch has reached out to Google for more information.
YouTube was late to the short-form video space (it launched Shorts in 2024, a few years after the launch of TikTok and Instagram Reels), but has since managed to attract an audience. CEO Neal Mohan: YouTube Shorts Averaged 200 Billion Daily Views in June 2025 said in his speech in Cannes last year. (We can contextualize this impressive metric YouTube counts “views”. (like the first moment the video opens.)
A report earlier this year showed that Short films were increasingly watched on TV screens by viewers, and 2 billion hours of such content were consumed per month.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This does not affect our editorial independence.
