Instagram Offers Option To Hide Public Like Counts

Instagram on Wednesday announced that it was giving users a choice whether to show like counts on photos and videos.

In a blog post, the social media platform said that everyone on Instagram and Facebook will now have the option to hide public like counts on their feed.

“We tested hiding like counts to see if it might depressurize people’s experience on Instagram,” the platform said. “What we heard from people and experts was that not seeing like counts was beneficial for some, and annoying to others, particularly because people use like counts to get a sense for what’s trending or popular, so we’re giving you the choice.”

The company says the feature will allow users to “focus on the photos and videos being shared, instead of how many likes posts get.” The tool can be found under the new Posts section in the Instagram Settings.

The move aligns with the company’s other tools aimed at giving users more control. Last month, the company introduced a new feature to help users block out offensive DMs. On Facebook, users can now adjust who can comment on their posts.

Instagram has been making several improvements to its platform in recent weeks. Earlier this month, the platform announced that it was adding in a new pronouns feature to user profiles and also introduced auto-generated captions for stories and reels.

The company has also introduced improved metrics for content creators to help them better evaluate their performance.