Musk’s X to Hide Likes Soon

Elon Musk’s X will soon hide users’ social media Likes from public view, allowing everyone to engage with content regardless of propriety.

• Users will see who liked their posts and the like count, but won’t see others’ liked posts or the Likes tab on profiles.
• The company believes that the public likes tab discourages authentic engagement due to fear of reputational backlash.

X will soon hide what you like on the social media platform from prying eyes, confirms its engineering director.

MacRumors’ Aaron Perris first found a flag in the iOS version of the app that detailed the update. He then took to X, sharing the discovery and showing how the interface would look like. Perris also clarified that he couldn’t see anyone’s Likes tab once the feature was turned on.

X’s director of engineering, Haofei Wang, retweeted the post and confirmed the news. He explains that the public likes were stopping users from authentically engaging with the content for fear of reputational backlash.

Enrique Barragan, a senior software engineer at X, chimed in, explaining how the update will play out. You’ll still see who liked your post and the number of social media likes your post earned. However, you won’t be able to see who else liked the same post or other peoples’ Likes tab.

X premium subscribers already enjoy this feature, but now the social media platform is removing everyone’s Likes tab.

Not all X users were fond of the news. Two camps formed: those who were all for this change for privacy reasons and those who pretty much want to keep it optional. Some were even worried that this would lead to an influx of bots that are bought to like and reply to social media posts.

Keeping one’s ‘less-than-socially-acceptable’ interest private while engaging with the content does serve a purpose for both the platform and the user. You get to engage with all the content and creators with whom you truly want to engage without fear of judgment or any in-real-life repercussions. The platform, on the other hand, can then offer more of what you like and collect more data to better target you with their advertising.

The company probably learned that lesson after its ever-so-controversial CEO, Elon Musk, liked an anti-Semitic post on the social media platform and wreaked havoc on its relationships with advertisers.

X is known for controversial opinions and no-hold-back discussions. Bringing free speech back to the platform was Elon Musk’s reasoning behind the acquisition in the first place. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and beliefs. Before the social media platform’s Likes tab became optional, you could discover like-minded people’s profiles and engage with content that, otherwise, you would have not seen.

Considering X is the town square of social media platforms, there needs to be a distinction between the average user and the high-profile users. The latter group build their empires off of their public image, for better and for worse. Some even hold such high positions that they govern people. That group, which naturally includes politicians, has a responsibility to be transparent with the public. Most of them don’t have any qualms screaming all their opinions from the rooftops. But some hide behind false smiles and ambitious policies. Whether they purposefully like inappropriate social media content or not, the public’s ability to see that keeps them in check.

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