X makes major change that affects all social media users on the app

Social media app X, previously known as Twitter, has made a major change that impacts every user on the platform.

From this week, users will find that they are no longer able to view other people's likes. Going forward, a user's likes will be private affair, with only the account holder being able to see what they've liked. Alerting its user base about this new policy, X has started issuing notifications about the change.

A notification being sent out reads: "Your Likes are now private. We are making Likes more private for everyone to better protect your privacy. Liking more posts will make your 'For You' feed better."

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The change is part of Elon Musk's latest plans for the app. In the future, the identities of those who liked a post will also remain hidden from everyone except the sender and the person who clicked the like button, according to Slate.

With an aim to bolster freedom of expression, Musk commented on the change in his own post on X. He wrote: "Important to allow people to like posts without getting attacked for doing so", as reported by Wales Online.

Echoing Musk's sentiment, X engineer Haofei Wang added: "Public likes are incentivizing the wrong behaviour. 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."

He continued: "Soon you'll be able to like without worrying who might see it. Also a reminder that the more posts you like, the better your For you algorithm will become."

It comes as X has confirmed recently that users will be allowed to post adult content on the app. A statement posted on X's Safety account clarified the new policy stance: "We have launched Adult Content and Violent Content policies to bring more clarity of our Rules and transparency into enforcement of these areas."

"These policies replace our former Sensitive Media and Violent Speech policies - but what we enforce against hasn't changed. Adult Content covers our approach to sharing consensual sexual content and adult nudity. Violent Content covers violent speech and violent media to allow for a more holistic approach to combating violence in all forms."

The notion of hiding likes on posts has been meet with mixed reaction. Nickpmclaren expressed on X: "So @X formerly Twitter has started hiding all 'likes'. Why bother having them then? #twitter."

Sharing a mix of opinions, WuBao commented: "I'm not [sure] whether is a good impact or not...", while another user, SannizL, questioned the intent behind the move: "Hiding likes? Is it just to protect those that cheat on their partners? I don't have to "hide my likes"."

Investmentkage shared thoughts on the platform change, asking: "Do you like that X (twitter) will be hiding the likes from everyone now? I'm not sure how I feel about this." And NarutoExplained offered a personal take: "I don't care personally. It's your business what you like."

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