Wednesday, 8 May 2024

Instagram to remove ‘likes’ on the app for millions of US users next week

Instagram fans are in for a shock next week as they will no longer be able to see how many people have liked photos on their newsfeed.

The social media platform will trial the change for millions of users in the United States and the change could be rolled out to the United Kingdom eventually.

It means US users will no longer be able to see how many likes the new Kylie Jenner post got, but they will still be able to see how many likes their own posts get.

Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri announced the trial on Friday at WIRED25 and said the aim is to "de-pressurise" the platform for young people.

It comes after trials in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Ireland, Italy and Brazil.

During an interview Mr Mosseri said: "It's about young people.

“The idea is to try and de-pressurise Instagram, make it less of a competition, give people more space to focus on connections with people that they love, things that inspire them.

“We have to see how it affects how people feel about the platform, how it affects how they use the platform.”

But the move could make life difficult for influencers who rely on millions of likes on their posts to make money.

When the tests hit Australia, influencer Tammy Hembrow was asked: “What happens when Instagram gets rid of the likes?”

Hembrow responded: “Then we’ll delete Instagram from my life! F*** Instagram!”

A number of changes have been made to the Facebook-owned platform this year to make it safer for users.

Earlier this year the app rolled out an anti-bullying tool which lets you hide comments and block bullying accounts.

Instagram began testing the tool as a way of tackling what it said was a complex issue – where many users do not want to report or block those bullying them for fear of further abuse.

It also removed the following tab which shows the photos and videos that your friends have liked, followed and commented on.

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