Social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has implemented a huge update that affects all users. In a major change, users will no longer be able to see other people’s likes.
Instead, they will only be able to see their own likes, and no one else will be able to see theirs or vice-versa. A notification is being rolled out to users to alert them of the move.
The message reads: “Your Likes are now private. We are making Likes more private for everyone to better protect your privacy. Liking more posts will make your ‘For You’ feed better.”
The change is part of Elon Musk’s latest plans for the app. In the future, the identities of those who liked a post will also remain hidden from everyone except the sender and the person who clicked the like button, according to Slate.
Musk and his team of engineers at X argue the update encourages free expression. Taking to his own X account, the billionaire tech mogul wrote: “Important to allow people to like posts without getting attacked for doing so!”
X engineer, Haofei Wang, also commented: “Public likes are incentivizing the wrong behaviour. For example, many people feel discouraged from liking content that might be ‘edgy’ in fear of retaliation from trolls, or to protect their public image.
“Soon you’ll be able to like without worrying who might see it. Also a reminder that the more posts you like, the better your For you algorithm will become.”
It comes as X recently announced that it will allow users to post adult content on the app. In a post by X’s Safety account, a statement reads: “We have launched Adult Content and Violent Content policies to bring more clarity of our Rules and transparency into enforcement of these are