Instagram Testing New Feature That Will Allow Users to ‘Hide Like Counts’ on Posts

Facebook-owned photo-sharing platform Instagram will test giving people more control over where they see like counts on posts. The company announced a “small global test” that will give users of the app three options when it comes to the like count — choosing not to see like counts on anyone’s posts, turning them off for their own posts, or keeping the original experience. It also said it was “working on a similar experience” for Facebook, but it hasn’t clarified what that might look like.

This comes as an extension of an Instagram test that hid the public like count for certain users. However, previously, users were not given a choice if they saw the like count or not. Instagram had told users at the time that it wanted people to focus on the content they share on the platform, not on how many likes they are getting. This builds on an initial Instagram test that hid the public like count for certain users around the world. In that case, users didn’t have a choice about whether they saw the like count or not. Instagram told users at the time that it wanted people to “focus on the photos and videos you share, not how many likes they get.”

The move by Instagram wasn’t received well by influencers initially, as they were concerned that hiding likes would impact their brand deals as the engagement won’t be public, but that hasn’t been the case since the influencers are able to view their own like counts privately and share them with brands. Still, providing a more custom experience might be the right direction for the platform to move toward, giving people who are aware of how public like counts make them feel a chance to escape them, while also allowing people who want to keep track of the counts able to do so.

Facebook also initially tested a similar feature in 2019. That test hid public like, reaction, and video view counts. It’s unclear whether this new test could apply to all of those surfaces or just the like count on posts. That Facebook test isn’t live yet, and Facebook says it’ll be learning from this new test and will “have more to share soon.”