X adds a feature that hides users' likes from public view, Elon Musk confirms

Social media platform X has introduced a new feature that hides users’ likes from public view. Announced earlier this week by the platform’s engineering team, the update aims to “better protect your privacy.” As a result, users can see their own likes, but others cannot, ending a feature that has been widely used for a long time. Elon Musk also took to the platform to confirm the changes coming to it.

This change took effect on Wednesday. By the afternoon, the “Likes” tab was only visible on a user’s own profile page, while it disappeared from other users’ profiles.

In addition to this update, users received a notification suggesting that the change might lead to increased user engagement. The message read, “Liking more posts will make your ‘For you’ feed better.”

Despite the new privacy settings, like counts and other metrics for a user’s own posts will still appear under notifications. Posts will continue to display the number of likes they receive, but only the author can see the list of users who liked the post.

Previously, the option to hide likes was available exclusively to paying Premium subscribers. When X introduced this feature in September, it advertised it as a way for users to “keep spicy likes private by hiding your likes tab.”

Main Image: The Independent