Is Hiding Likes On X A Likable Move By Elon Musk?

Elon Musk’s social media platform X will start hiding users' likes by default from today onwards as a move to present activity judgment.

Social media is not a place for beginners. It comes with as many dark shades as it comes with opportunities. For instance, a public post of a celebrity with certain nudity may have millions of likes. But, one like by a Senate Office representative or a Supreme Court judge will spread around like wildfire. To curb the potential scenarios of public figures on social media from becoming victims of moral policing and mass judgment, Elon Musk has made a bold decision.

Starting today, the X social media platform will stop showing users’ likes on posts as a default function. Elon Musk had clearly intended to implement such a feature in the early months of 2024. The rollout begins today and will soon be reflected in all X accounts globally.

Privacy has always been an aggressive priority for Elon Musk. Recently, he filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on its intentions not to be completely non-profit or pro-humanity but rather for profit. The acquisition of OpenAI by Microsoft and the integration of ChatGPT features in the new CoPilot series is clear evidence of the matter. However, he took back the lawsuit just one day before the hearing.

In recent times, multiple celebrities have fallen prey to public shaming due to their engagement with discouraging or edgy content. While the general public is allowed various kinds of freedom of speech, expression, and actions, public figures tend to be left out of the rights on social media. This has led to multiple controversies in the last two years, some of which are just for liking a post of an adult artist.

Elon Musk also stated that Likes are not really an engagement factor anymore, and tech giants should focus more on views as a benchmark. His ideology is rapidly shaping the interface of X, one of which is the hidden likes.