Following scandals such as Cambridge Analytics and after several reports were leaked showing that Facebook was fully aware of the negative effects its applications had, measures aimed at combating these consequences on teenagers began to be published .
The possibility of disabling Instagram likes was one of the first changes to come to light. This measure aims to reduce the symptoms of anxiety or depression caused by overexposure to social networks.
Consuming content related to other people's daily lives for several hours a day sometimes creates self-esteem problems . Since on social networks we only show what we want to share, it is easy to create a much more idyllic perception of reality .
For this reason, turning off the display of likes is one viber data of the first steps to breaking the cycle of comparison with other people . By not seeing how many likes your posts receive, the pressure to upload one content or another is reduced.
How to disable Instagram likes?
If you finally want to execute this change and hide the likes on Instagram, these are the steps you must follow in the application interface :
Select the post you want to hide the like count for.
Once inside, click on the three-dot menu located at the top right.
In the drop-down menu that opens, choose the option “hide like count.”
This step will allow you to remove the total number of likes for this post, as well as the breakdown of who liked it. Your followers will not be able to see how many likes you have accumulated or who they came from.
Disable the display of likes received by other users
In addition to being able to hide your own social interaction numbers, Instagram also allows you to disable the display of likes received by other users . To make this change, you must go to the “Settings” section, located within the Instagram menu that you will see at the top right of your profile. Once there, follow the steps described below:
Click on “privacy settings”.
Select the “publications” option.
Under “Posts,” you will read “Likes and Views.” By clicking on the bar that appears next to it, you will deactivate the display of likes from other Instagram users.
Since the Facebook-owned app launched this change in mid-spring 2021, they claim that user feedback has been positive. The app itself acknowledges that it helps reduce social pressure and comparisons between users.
A collapsing buying and selling market
Such has been the weight and importance that likes have been accumulating in recent years, that a whole market for buying and selling them has emerged. Thus, and in exchange for a few euros, those people who would like to increase the number of likes on their posts could do so.
There are different websites that sell fake likes and whose operating dynamics consist of using hundreds of bots that open fake Instagram accounts and like thousands of posts.
However, the growing disinterest in hiding likes and the recent awareness of platforms seem to leave this type of fraudulent business in limbo. If users do not care about the number of likes and focus on simply sharing the content they want on social networks, this buying and selling market will end up being meaningless.