Twitter (X) Private Likes

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HB @Heartbreak Juan That's why he's the goat Himmel the Hero wouldn't hide the likes tab. M 14 542 гJw He was brave enough to make his love known to the world. Hyde @tabakko 18h Himmel the hero wouldn't hide the likes tab 1:14 AM · Jun 13, 2024 1.8M Views HB

juju ✔ @ayeejuju Follow TWITTER IS MAKING LIKES PRIVATE??? 12:40 PM - Jun 12, 2024 X

Shikhar Sagar ❤ @crazy_shikhu. Follow Riyaan Parag after likes became private X 1:25 AM Jun 13, 2024

Elon Musk @elonmusk Follow Massive increase in likes after they were made private! 22 k 20k 18 k 16 k 14 k 14:00 Jun 12 18:00Z 15:00 Jun 12 19:00Z Wed 2024-06-12 15:34:00 (2024-06-12 19:34:00 - UTC) METRICS (2) CSV Fav -1wk 9:14 PM Jun 12, 2024 училни 16:00 Jun 12 20:00Z 17:00 Jun 12 21:00Z 18:00 Jun 12 22:00Z X W 19:00 Jun 12 23:00Z f=freeze Eq. atla AND > 10 .. 34,650.6667 ALL 17,776.0167 16,874.6500

trish X @ULTRAGLOSS. Follow twitter likes being private is one thing but when instagram removed the following tab........where magic like this was made....... ddlovato liked 2 of henrycavill's posts. 2s ddlovato just shared a post. 2s ddlovato started following henrycavill. 24s 5:49 PM - Jun 12, 2024

cinnamon bun @notsofiacoppola. Follow X Now that twitter likes are private, there's a man who is currently scrolling through my media tab and liking every boob selfie. He just reached 2021. Huge day for him. 10:40 .5GE Notifications All Verified Mentions liked 68 of your posts pic.twitter.com/x9iq74pzL1 Show all 7:03 PM Jun 12, 2024

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Overview

Twitter (X) Private Likes refers to Elon Musk's decision to hide which posts Twitter / X users "likes" from other users. The decision was announced in June 2024 in a move meant to better protect users' privacy. Among the changes users may experience, you can still see posts you have liked, though others won't have access to see it through your profile like it was previously available. X's private likes decision enraged users and sparked a series of memes about it, often showing people's reactions to not being able to pry on other users' likes.

Background

On January 11th, 2024, X’s engineering team announced^[1] that it would be “making Likes private for everyone to better protect your privacy.” According to the tweet, users will still be able to see posts "you have liked (but others cannot)." The post (seen below) amassed more than 51,000 likes and 45,000 reposts in a day.

X Engineering ☑ @XEng This week we're making Likes private for everyone to better protect your privacy. - You will still be able to see posts you have liked (but others cannot). - Like count and other metrics for your own posts will still show up under notifications. - You will no longer see who liked someone else's post. - A post's author can see who liked its posts. 6:01 PM - Jun 11, 2024 127.7M Views

On June 12th, 2024, the change^[2] went into effect, as X's^[3] official account shared the They Don’t Know meme captioning "likes are now private" to announce the update on the platform. The post (seen below) received more than 90,000 likes and 14,000 reposts in a few hours.

Developments

Elon Musk's Response

On January 11th, 2024, X's CEO Elon Musk replied to a tweet about the private likes update (seen below), saying the new policy is "Important to allow people to like posts without getting attacked for doing so!" The post amassed over 181,000 likes and 20,000 reposts in a day.

Elon Musk @elonmusk Follow Important to allow people to like posts without getting attacked for doing so! DogeDesigner @cb_doge X is reportedly rolling out private likes starting today. This means that users' likes on the platform will be hidden by default. X Soon, users will be able to like content without worrying about who might see it. The Verge X is about to start hiding all likes The rollout of the long-anticipated change will show up on timelines as soon as today. X is rolling out private likes as soon as today, 3:51 PM Jun 11, 2024

Online Reactions

The private likes news was received with negative feedback from X users, who shared memes and jokes about it on the platform. For example, on June 12th, 2024, X^[4] user @laugh_track_nat posted the video of a man on the train nosily looking at someone's phone and then immediately looking away, captioning "Me still being nosy with or without likes." The post (seen below) received over 983,000 views and 44,000 reposts in a few hours.

Me still being nosy with or without likes pic.twitter.com/EU9tIqz0hO

— nat 🇲🇸🇦🇬 (@laugh_track_nat) June 12, 2024

On June 12th, 2024, X^[5] user @Cyb4rAnGeL complained about the platform's update, saying it "just ruined the fun for stalker obsessive girls like me." The tweet (seen below) amassed more than 946 likes and 61 reposts in a few hours.