Instagram to test hiding post likes in the US starting next week

Instagram has been testing a change to its platform since April that hides the like count on posts. The test began in Canada and expanded to six more countries, which include Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand. Now, the company is expanding this test to the US.

This announcement came through Instagram head Adam Mosseri while talking at the WIRED25 conference. Mosseri said the test will begin in the US starting next week and the like count from the posts of some users may vanish.

The count will still be visible to the creator of the post, but others won't be able to see it.

WATCH: Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announces that the platform will start hiding likes for US audiences starting next week. It's the latest step in Instagram’s quest to become the safest place on the internet. https://t.co/BGkMG57rdk #WIRED25 pic.twitter.com/WNTyAPVhaD

— WIRED (@WIRED) November 9, 2019

By hiding the like counts from the posts, Instagram wants "your followers to focus on what you share, not how many likes your posts get."

This change will surely be welcomed by those who believe in a stress-free, anxiety-free environment on social media. But, it will certainly leave the influencers on the platform unhappy, since it's likely to affect their earnings off the platform because the like counts on a post are often used as a metric of performance on social networks.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think Instagram should hide the like counts from posts?

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