Facebook confirmed that they are planning to remove and hide like counts on their social media platform.
Jane Manchun Wong, an application researcher, found code inside the Android application of Facebook that hides the exact amount of likes on a post from everyone but the original poster.
This means that users are only going to see a couple of emoji reactions and note that the said post was liked by an “a friend and other people” instead of showing numbers.
Facebook confirmed the news to TechCrunch, and they said that they are currently considering doing a test that would hide like counts.
Facebook said they haven’t started the tests yet.
Wong said, “Currently, with this unreleased feature, the like/reaction count is hidden from anyone other than the creator of the post, just like how it works on Instagram.”
Wong added, “The list of people who liked/reacted will still be accessible, but the amount will be hidden.”
This is not the first time something similar has happened. Earlier this year, Instagram started tests in which the platform hid the like counts.
In the initial feedbacks that were received by the company, Instagram said that people actually liked the test.
Even with the fact that the like feature on Facebook is loved by a lot, a lot of users have complained that it makes them feel bad when their posts do not get enough likes.
This leads people not posting things as they fear their post won’t get enough likes and reactions.
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If people who take part in the tests like the new feature, it is expected that Facebook will run the tests on different areas in the world on a larger scale.