X Makes 'Likes' Private to Protect User Privacy
Platform X, formerly known as Twitter, is making another significant change by making 'Likes' on posts private. Elon Musk, the owner of X, confirmed the news stating, "It's important to allow people to 'Like' posts without being attacked for doing so." This new feature, already available to X Premium subscribers, will soon be extended to all users.
According to X's Director of Engineering, Haofei Wang, the primary goal is to protect the public image of users. "Many people feel discouraged from liking content due to fear of backlash," Wang explained. Consequently, users will no longer be able to see who liked other people's posts, although they will still be able to see who liked their own posts and the total number of likes on any post.
This change aligns with Musk's vision to shift emphasis away from 'likes' and 'reposts,' which he considers less important for social media virality. Instead, X aims to focus on post views, also known as 'impressions,' to measure the reach and impact of content more accurately.
The update rolled out on the X website this Wednesday and will soon be available on mobile applications. While some users are concerned that this could enable the use of bots to artificially like posts, X assures that they are working on detecting and removing such bots to maintain the integrity of the platform.
Embracing User Privacy: More Than Just a New Feature
The decision to make 'likes' private reflects a long-held desire by Elon Musk to protect user privacy and reshape the social network. According to Enrique Barragan, a senior software engineer at X, users have expressed discomfort in publicly liking certain content, whether humorous, politicized, or otherwise connotative.
Since May 2021, Instagram has allowed its users to hide 'like' counts on their posts, suggesting a broader trend among social media platforms to prioritize user privacy. Musk's move to implement similar changes aligns with his broader vision of transforming X into a more user-friendly and privacy-centric platform.
- While some users welcome the change as it allows them to engage more freely without the fear of judgment, others worry about the potential misuse of the feature. 'So now people can use bots to like their posts and no one will know,' one user, Luna, commented on the platform. X's engineering team, however, is committed to enhancing their bot-detection systems to mitigate such issues.
- Elon Musk's focus on 'impressions' as a key metric highlights an ongoing shift in how social media effectiveness is measured. By emphasizing views over likes and reposts, X aims to provide a more accurate representation of content reach and engagement. This pivot is part of Musk's broader strategy to evolve X beyond its Twitter origins, potentially moving towards becoming a video platform.
