The social network formerly known as Twitter has confirmed that X Likes are to be made private, so only the author of the post can see who has liked it. The company says that this is to protect people who are afraid to publicly Like “edgy” content, though users have mixed views …
X user Aaron first spotted a flag which, when enabled, removed the Likes tab from profiles, so you can no longer see which posts someone has Liked.
He speculated that this might mean X was going to be hiding Likes by default, and one of the company’s engineers responded to confirm this.
Yeah, we are making likes private.
Public likes are incentivizing the wrong behavior. 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.
The Like counter will still be visible, however.
X users responded with mixed views. Some feel that this is a way to allow people to Like hateful content without accountability, while others feel it’s a positive move to reduce heat on the platform.
The majority, however, appear to think X should be focused on more important issues.
Photo by Katya Ross on Unsplash
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