Are you dying for a ‘dislike’ button on Facebook? Mark Zuckerberg says the ‘like’ thumb will soon have a companion, but don’t be fooled by a scam, warns Katie Wright

WHAT would you most like to 'dislike' on Facebook? The political opinions of your friends (or enemies)? A surfeit of selfies? Passive-aggressive status updates? If you've been rubbing your hands with glee at headlines announcing that a symbol to denote disapproval is on the way, you might want to dial down your excitement.

"People have asked about the dislike button for many years, probably hundreds of people have asked about this," Mark Zuckerberg told the audience during a Q&A session at Facebook HQ in California recently. "Today is the day I actually get to say we're working on it and very close to shipping a test of it," the CEO said, before clarifying that it's not as simple as flipping the 'like' icon upside down. "We didn't want to just build a dislike button," Zuckerberg explained. "People aren't looking for an ability to down vote people's posts, what they really want is to be able to express empathy.

"Not every moment is a good moment," he continued, citing the recent refugee crisis or the death of a family member as instances where "it may not feel comfortable to like that post".

Sharing sad news is something the 31-year-old has had experience of himself lately. Back in July, at the same time as announcing that he and wife Priscilla Chan were expecting their first child, Zuckerberg also revealed that the couple had suffered three miscarriages. The revelation was met with many messages of support and more than 1.7 million likes, but this is just the sort of incident where a wordless 'like' doesn't necessarily fit the bill.

It remains to be seen what the new symbol will be, but since we now know it won't be a straight-up dislike button, don't be tempted by unscrupulous ads promising just that. In the wake of the Q&A session, a scam offering users the chance to download an inverted thumb has reappeared (it originally dates back to around 2010), which appears to be an attempt to gather personal information.

When the new empathy emblem does arrive, it will most likely function in the same way the like button does now - no download required. In the meantime, if you want to express anything other than positive affirmation on your friend's Facebook activities, you'll have to use good old-fashioned words.

FACE OFF

More than half of teenagers think cyberbullying is worse than face-to-face bullying, according to new research. A survey of 5,000 teenagers in 11 countries found that one in five has been cyberbullied, and that a fifth of those felt suicidal. Vodafone commissioned the research from YouGov and, in response, has launched the #BeStrong anti-cyberbullying campaign. As part of the initiative, a suite of supportive emojis have been unveiled to highlight the importance of expressing compassion and sympathy when a friend is being bullied. For every one of the symbols shared publically on Facebook or Twitter, the Vodafone Foundation will donate 10p to anti-bullying charities. Visit Vodafone.com/bestrong for a link to the emojis.

DOTCOM DECISION IMMINENT

It's one of the most high-profile piracy cases of all time and has rumbled on for years, but now Kim Dotcom is finally set to find out whether he'll be extradited to the United States. Dotcom (who was born Kim Schmitz), and the other founders of the infamous Megaupload file-sharing site, which closed in 2013, have appeared in court in New Zealand at the beginning of a hearing to determine if they'll be sent to face charges of copyright violation brought by the FBI. If found guilty, they could be sentenced to decades in prison for activities that netted them £112m. The flamboyant entrepreneur will be seated in a chair specially sourced to support his large 6ft 5in frame during the hearing, which is expected to last several weeks.

PHONES FOR FERTISILISATION

What would you be willing to do for a free smartphone? In response to a shortage of donors, sperm banks in China have found a novel way to entice more willing participants by including iPhones on their flyers and upping the reward offered in line with phone prices. Resorting to ever more drastic tactics, one clinic in Hubei province has even gone as far as using the tag line: 'You don't have to sell a kidney' to get the latest Apple gadget, referring to the case in 2011 when a 17-year-old Chinese boy donated one of his kidneys to buy an iPhone and iPad.