Instagram Set to Remove Likes Starting This Week

By Sebastian Tuinder

The CEO of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, announced on Friday that the image sharing platform will be experimenting with hiding the “likes” on some posts in the United States.

Instagram tweeted that the change would place “focus on the photos and videos you share, not how many likes they get.” Users will not be able to see how many likes another user’s post gets. Users will, however, still be able to see how many likes their own post generates.

This test has already been rolled out in other countries such as Italy, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Japan and New Zealand. Since July, Instagram in these countries has looked barren in terms of “likes,” and some users have noticed an impact.

Influencers in the seven test countries have reportedly already noticed a decline in likes, comments, and general content engagement. Their reliance on Instagram’s algorithms has seen their content pushed further down the list on feeds, making the influencers slightly nervous as to how this might affect their means of income.

“We will make decisions that hurt the business if they help people’s well-being and health,” said Mosseri.

Research from the Journal of the American Medical Association has shown the correlation between social media use and depression in adolescents. The highly pressurized environment of social media platforms such as Instagram, has resulted in teens and young adults forming unhealthy habits in their constant hunt for more likes, and, subsequently, their own validation.

“I think people who go on social media for the likes will go somewhere else for validation,” said Jimmy McKenna, a Brooklyn resident.

Instagram, though, is not the only social media giant looking to change the way users interact with their platforms; Instagram’s parent company, Facebook, has been experimenting with hidden likes since September, while Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has been saying for years that he would love to redesign Twitter without the option to “like” a post.

With the Instagram update set to roll out sometime this week, users are bound to notice a difference, while those who both economically and socially survive off of likes, might request a dislike button.