Tech billionaire Elon Musk has announced that X, formerly known as Twitter, will soon begin hiding users’ like reactions on posts. While the total like count on others’ posts will be hidden, users will still be able to see how many people liked their own posts and how many posts they have liked, according to Forbes.
Musk explained the change by resharing a post on X, stating, “Important to allow people to like posts without getting attacked for doing so.”
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On May 21, X’s Director of Engineering, Haofei Wang, mentioned that the platform would implement this change, noting that public likes incentivize the wrong behavior. He added that many users feel discouraged from liking potentially controversial content for fear of retaliation or to protect their public image.
X Senior Software Engineer Enrique Barragan had also hinted at this policy change in late May.
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Since taking over X, Musk has introduced several changes to the platform, including renaming it and launching a premium plan that offers more customized options for users.