JUST a few days after X updated its policies on allowing adult content on its platform, the site, formerly known as Twitter, revealed another major change.
Elon Musk confirmed that X would start “hiding” likes in an effort to increase privacy, enhance the social media platform’s “For You” page, and offer users a guilt-free way to interact with accounts and posts.
When did X start hiding likes?
While X didn’t officially start hiding likes until June 11, 2024, the social media platform notified users about the change a few weeks before the rollout.
On May 21, 2024, rumors began swirling that X would soon be hiding likes from its users.
Haofei Wang, X’s director of engineering, confirmed the news that X would be making the switch within a few weeks.
“Yeah, we are making likes private,” he tweeted.
“Public likes are incentivizing the wrong behavior,” he wrote.
“For example, many people feel discouraged from liking content that might be “edgy” in fear of retaliation from trolls, or to protect their public image.”
“Soon you’ll be able to like without worrying who might see it.”
“Also a reminder that the more posts you like, the better your For you algorithm will become,” he added.
Hiding likes on social media platforms is nothing new.
X’s Premium subscribers already had the option to do so, while other platforms, like Instagram, have long since abolished its Activity page, which showed which users were liking, following, and generally interacting with other posts, profiles, and users.
The change doesn’t mean likes are completely gone, either.
X users will still be able to see who liked their posts, and the number of likes their posts receive.
However, they won’t see the people who liked someone else’s post, or another user’s liked tabs anymore.
Users who logged into or visited their X account since the change went into effect were greeted with a pop-up notification announcing the news.
“Your Likes are now private,” the message read.
“We are making Likes private for everyone to better protect your privacy.”
“Liking more posts will make your ‘For you’ feed better.”
What did Elon Musk say about X hiding likes?
On Tuesday, January 11, 2024, Elon Musk confirmed that X would start rolling out private likes.
“Important to allow people to like posts without getting attacked for doing so!” he tweeted, alongside a retweet by @cb_doge.
X “is reportedly rolling out private likes starting today,” the original tweet read.
“This means that users’ likes on the platform will be hidden by default.”
“Soon, users will be able to like content without worrying about who might see it.”
The following day, Musk announced that the change had gone into effect.
“Important change: your likes are now private,” he tweeted.
Less than 12 hours later, he tweeted a graph showing how likes on the platform had supposedly increased over the past day.
“Massive increase in likes after they were made private!” he wrote.
What have X users said about the update to likes?
Reactions regarding the change were mixed, with many X users sharing their thoughts directly on the platform.
“5 mins without likes being public im going crazy,” tweeted one user, alongside a gif of Aaron Paul, playing Jesse Pinkman from the hit series Breaking Bad, panicking.
“TWITTER IS MAKING LIKES PRIVATE???” exclaimed another user.
“Elon when it comes to ruining twitter,” tweeted one user, next to a photo of Tom Brady showing off his Super Bowl Championship rings.
Even some brands got in on the fun, with Netflix, the popular video streaming platform, sharing their opinion on their X account.
“Now that Twitter is hiding likes I can finally heart your most eyebrow raising thirst tweets without overthinking it!”