X to soon make likes private for everyone: Here’s what it means

X says making likes private will allow people to like posts without having to worry about being judged, but some users seem to disagree with the upcoming changes.

X Private Likes | X new feature | X hide likes

X will soon remove the Likes tab from user profiles. (Image Source: Reuters)

Since purchasing X (formerly Twitter) in 2022, multi-billionaire Elon Musk has been making all sorts of changes to the platform. Now, the company has announced that it will soon make ‘Likes’ private for everyone.

In a post on X, the company’s Engineering account announced that starting this week, users won’t be able to see posts others have liked. This means everything you like on the platform will only be visible to you. While metrics such as Like count will still appear under notifications, X users won’t be able to see who liked someone else’s post.

However, you will still be able to see who liked your posts. For those not in the loop, X already allows Premium subscribers to hide their likes from others. Following the change, the Likes tab will also be removed from user profiles.

Also Read | 90% Indian business leaders use AI tools to boost productivity: Canva report

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

On his X timeline, company CEO Elon Musk said that it was “important to allow people to like posts without getting attacked.” Some time ago, Haofei Wang, the company’s director of engineering explained that the upcoming change was important to protect user privacy and that many people refrain from liking certain posts because they are “edgy”.

While some are disappointed that they won’t be able to see what others have liked, others are raising concerns about bot campaigns running rampant on the platform.