X Director of Engineering Haofei Wang says “we are making likes private” in an update happening “soon”, as “public likes are incentivizing the wrong behavior”

Musk could soon make likes on X private, changing a feature that historically placed several celebrities, including him, into scandals.

Gizmodo 2024-05-23 Maxwell Zeff

@wanghaofei @wanghaofei on x
Yeah, we are making likes private. Public likes are incentivizing the wrong behavior. For example, many people feel discouraged from liking content that might be “edgy” in fear of retaliation from trolls, or to protect their public image. Soon you'll be able to like without
@aaronp613 Aaron on x
X will soon not allow you to see what other accounts like on the iOS app. Here is before and after enabling the flag [image]
@xdaily @xdaily on x
SPECULATION: X *might* be hiding likes for all users by default. [image]
@jack @jack on x
@wanghaofei what's the difference between a “like” and a “bookmark” then? “like"/❤️ was originally a ⭐️. we should have never moved away from that.
@enriquebrgn Enrique on x
@jack @wanghaofei The author can see who liked their posts vs they cannot see who bookmarked it Agree on the star, i liked it
@wallstreetsilv @wallstreetsilv on x
@wanghaofei The number of likes visible is a great indicator on whether something is worth reading or watching. I thought X was trying to encourage more engagement. You are taking away the critical signals of engagement and high quality content.
@wanghaofei @wanghaofei on x
@jack Like is visible between you and the author, the author will be notified, but not anyone else. Bookmark is only visible to you. We could make it a ⭐️, or even make it customizable for users.

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