X Hides User Likes — Whether They Like It Or Not
Likes are now private, at least to everyone but the one getting liked and the user doing the liking, on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Forbes
Chances are if you like something you'd like the world to know! Yet, beginning this week on X—the social media platform formerly known as Twitter—likes are now private, at least to everyone but the one getting liked and the user doing the liking.
Users can see which posts they liked, but others cannot. Likewise, the poster will still see who liked it, while the like count will remain the same as before.
X, which rolled out the change with little fanfare, said it was done "to better protect" the privacy of users. Previously the ability to hide likes was an option for premium subscribers on the platform.
"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," Haofei Wang, X's director of engineering, announced via a tweet last month.
RELATED STORIES FROM THE INTEGRITY PROJECT