X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has made yet another pretty big change. This time around, public likes have been hidden, which means users will no longer be able to see who likes one another’s Tweets (or posts). Like counts will still appear, and the poster will still be able to see who liked their Tweet, but now the general public won’t be able to click on a Tweet and see who is doing the liking. According to the company, the decision was made “to better protect your privacy.”ย
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Why the Change Will Hurt X/Twitter
X/Twitter began discussing this change back in May. Previously, hiding likes was an optionย that was given to Twitter Blue subscribers, but will be the standard moving forward. On one hand, it’s easy to see why this could actually help privacy; people (especially public figures) will now have a lot more freedom to like things on Twitter without fear of repercussions. However, public likes have been a way of being able to hold public figures accountable, as well; public likes prevented politicians from being able to endorse racist or sexist things posted to Twitter without scrutiny.ย
Another problem with this change is that accounts could use it to artificially inflate like counts. Under the previous system, when a Tweet went viral, there was a way of knowing whether the likes came from legitimate accounts. Since being taken over by Elon Musk, spam and bot accounts have gotten totally out of control on X/Twitter; nearly every Tweet is inundated with replies from fake accounts, and fake likes. It’s not hard to imagine this being weaponized by accounts to make Tweets suddenly go viral without anyone being able to see if it’s happening legitimately. Twitter was a platform where organically viral Tweets led to things like TV shows being made; the odds of that ever happening again seem very slim.ย
Disinformation in the Twitter Age
Twitter has long had a problem with disinformation, and this new change to the platform could exacerbate things. While some people will assuredly have no problem with likes going private, it’s easy to see how this could do more harm than good for the platform. Already, the Tweet announcing the change has been met with a lot of backlash from users, who listed these reasons and others for why the change is another for the worse.ย
Time will tell how (or if) X/Twitter plans on addressing these issues, but the change has been made. Time will tell if this one sticks, or if there’s a reversal, as we’ve seen with other controversial decisions in the Elon Musk era.ย
How do you feel about this change to X/Twitter? Do you think this will lead to more disinformation? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter atย @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky atย @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram atย @Dachampgaming!
