X, formerly known as Twitter, has gone through a myriad of changes, including that massive visual identity transition that saw the iconic blue bird logo switch to a white-colored X with a black background. However, that is not the only change arriving on the platform. A company executive has confirmed that X will now be making ‘Likes’ private, moving towards a more privacy-centric approach. Here are all the details you should know.
X will soon be removing the option to view public likes, and users will no longer be able to keep tabs on the posts liked by someone
Aaron Perris of MacRumors unmasked this change after he shared his findings about the flag option in X for iOS. In his post, he revealed that when the flag option was turned on, the likes of an X user's public profiles could not be seen, passing on the assumption that this could be a new change the company is working on. This post raised a lot of eyebrows, and many X users started speculating about what this new option could be hinting at.
After a lot of buzz on X about X, Director of Engineering Haofei Wang decided to step in to clear the air surrounding the flag. He confirmed the speculations by admitting that the X is working on making 'likes' private.
Even though it might feel like this change, as with any recent changes the platform underwent, was not asked for. Wang believes it was needed to protect the public image of X users. He further went on to express how sometimes users feel hesitant to like any explicit or bold content, fearing backlash from other X users who might be able to view the likes. The new option would help users engage in content more easily without worrying too much and help X curate the recommended section for the users better.
Since there were a lot of details to the update that were left hanging, X's senior software engineer, Enrique Baraggan, also intervened to clarify further what other aspects the option to hide the likes tab would include. He explained that the users when removing the like tab option for their profile, would still be able to view their own post likes and see the like count. The only difference is that they can no longer be stalked by other X users based on what they like.
This option was already available to the X premium subscribers, but the recent plan is to bring it to all X users. The information on when the new option would be rolled out is limited as of yet. Many users have shared their apprehension of the new change, suggesting it might encourage people not to feel any accountability and engage in hateful content. Some users expressed how the change might remove the hostility displayed on the platform as a result of the like tab. Musk himself has ended up in hot waters due to the controversial posts he has liked on X in the past. Once the change is implemented, many users can engage in the content they want without the added pressure of criticism.
