Social media platform X, formerly Twitter, has begun making the posts users ‘like’ on the platform private.
Engineers of the network owned by billionaire Elon Musk on Wednesday announced that they would be making Likes “private for everyone to better protect your privacy.”
As a result, a user will be able to see the posts they have liked, but others cannot.
‘Like’ count and other post metrics will still appear under one’s notifications.
X users will no longer see who liked someone else’s post on the main feed, but a post’s author will be able to see who liked their post.
This week we’re making Likes private for everyone to better protect your privacy.
– You will still be able to see posts you have liked (but others cannot).
– Like count and other metrics for your own posts will still show up under notifications.
– You will no longer see who…
— Engineering (@XEng) June 11, 2024
The Likes tab appeared on user’s profiles next to the list of their posts, reposts and replies; and media they have shared.
Initially called ‘Favourites’ up to 2015, the ‘like’ feature has primarily been a way for users to signal agreement, acknowledgement, endorsement, laughter, and support.
It has however been a source of backlash when users, especially public figures, ‘like’ posts considered controversial.
The ability to hide Likes was earlier introduced as a feature for only Premium users as Musk used the feature to incentivise users to pay for the social networking site.
The latest move comes just a week after X updated its rules to officially allow graphic content and pornography on the platform.
The new guidelines announced on June 3 explicitly permit users to share adult content “as long as it is consensually produced and distributed adult nudity or sexual behaviour.”